The first generation of contemporary public sculpture in the United States had its origins in artist-organized outdoor sculpture exhibitions …see the full review in May/June’s magazine.
Richard Hunt: Freeing the Human Soul
Chi Town Totem, 1997. Bronze, 102 x 38 x 38 in. As a public artist, Richard Hunt is known as a creator of abstract metal works, each a unique shrine to the human spirit. With over 30 public works in the Chicago area alone, one Hunt aficionado noted, “you kind of bump into them all
Jene Highstein
New York Stark Gallery Jene Highstein is not a Minimalist, though the simplicity of his work suggests that movement. Since his early pipe installations in the alternative space 112 Greene Street, he has worked in various materials including plaster, concrete, wood, stone, and cast metals.
Larry Bell
Los Angeles Kivo Hiqashi Gallery In a recent exhibition by the seminal Light and Space artist Larry Bell, two similar room-sized glass wall installation works were featured along with a maquette and several monoprint collages. Bell began setting large glass sheets into geometric configurations in the late 1960s, segueing from pedestal sculptures to largescale installations.
The Shape of Art at the End of the Century
Toland Grinnell, Mast, 1996-97. Glass and vinyl, 39 x 41 x 142 in. Basilico Fine Arts, New York. “The End of the Century” reads like the story of the Titanic-it is loaded with baggage and going down fast.
Sculpture’s Phantoms in the Public Sphere
Antoine-Denis Chaudet, The Vendôme Column (a 19th-century stereo souvenir showing the column’s base after its demolition in 1871 by the Commune of Paris). Contemporary debates over the nature of public art are often haunted by a romantic fascination with an imagined past of social cohesion founded in part on a population’s univocal approval of its
