New York
Causey Contemporary
The very large, garage-like space of Causey Contemporary just barely had room for John Clement’s Oiler (2011), which consists of two curved tubes of 20-inch-diameter welded steel that reach more than 18 feet in height. A remarkable gesture, Oiler gives the nod both to the monumental art of Mark di Suvero—as a young man Clement apprenticed with him—and the metal arcs of the French-born, New York-based sculptor Bernar Venet. But it should be said that Clement’s art is very much his own, both in its playful extravagance and its handling of form. Surprisingly, even the big works have a lightness to them; one of the most attractive aspects of Oiler is the seemingly weightless lyricism of its overall gestalt—this happens despite the fact that it weighs some 16,000 pounds. (Scale became a point of interest in itself: the work was so large that it had to be assembled in the gallery, which provided ear protection and hard hats so the public could watch.) …see the entire review in the print version of October’s Sculpture magazine.
