VENICE Biennale di Venezia, Ca’ Pesaro, Fondazione Querini Stampalia Venice recently hosted three solo shows by three leading Italian sculptors whose language couldn’t be more different: video-techno visionary Fabrizio Plessi at the Venice Pavilion at the Venice Biennale; Arte Povera master Pier Paolo Calzolari at the Ca’ Pesaro; and the mysterious, solitary Marisa Merz.
Duane Paxson
TROY, ALABAMA Johnson Art Center With works from the past decade, as well as a new series, Duane Paxson’s recent show offered an interesting contrast in subjects and materials.
Jene Highstein
NEW YORK Danese Gallery Jene Highstein’s new stainless steel sculptures have a formal morphological relation to his earlier work, going back to the 1970s. In contrast to the generation of Minimal artists who emerged in the early 1960s—Judd, Flavin, Morris, LeWitt, and Andre—Highstein entered the Minimalist stage somewhat later.
Ayse Erkmen: Plan B and Other (Not So) Futile Gestures
Ayse Erkmen’s site-specific sculptures activate the materials found in a particular place to shed light on the factors and histories that have lent it shape. She will often work with evanescent substances such as water or air or use pre-existing objects collected from a site only to return them to their place of origin at
Steven and William Ladd
HONOLULU The Contemporary Museum Think “box” and what comes to mind might be Joseph Cornell’s lyrical mise-en-scène, Donald Judd’s obdurate rows and stacks, or a singular work like Eva Hesse’s Accession II—its lush austerity signaling, among other things, a finely tuned balance between industrial materials and hand labor.
A Conversation with Blane De St. Croix: Uneven
Since the early 1990s, Blane De St. Croix has focused his sculpture on the various tensions underlying disjunctive communication. The theme first appeared in Excavation (1994) and Bed of Wicker, Bed of Straw, Bed of Clay (1995), which brought elements of outdoor environments into the gallery.
Thomas Hirschhorn: Irresistible
Is resistance possible? Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn still thinks so, according to the texts that permeated his giant cave of an installation at the 54th Venice Biennale. That Switzerland chose Hirschhorn as its official representative demonstrates a remarkable rapprochement, or at least détente, between an artist whose stated aim is to provoke and a government
Eunsuh Choi: Crystal Clear Dreams
Glass is rarely the medium of choice for large-scale sculpture. Yet Korean artist Eunsuh Choi defies expectations and assumed limitations, exploiting this fragile material at a grand scale to achieve qualities unimaginable in marble, bronze, clay, or wood.
“Go Ahead…Touch Me!”
CINCINNATI Manifest Gallery Mischievous intent and scrupulous execution do not necessarily go hand in hand in sculpture, but “Go Ahead…Touch Me!” featured works that answer both criteria.
James Surls: Paradox Is All We Have
James Surls is an artist of remarkable power and mystery. His wood, bronze, and steel sculptures evoke a sense of ancient, present, and future worlds, from earthly landscapes to outer space, from visible nature to the inner eye.
