NEW YORK Venus Over Manhattan Shinichi Sawada’s dynamic, wood-fired ceramic sculptures teem with energy. In this show—the first U.S. presentation of works by the self-taught, 38-year-old artist, who is based in Shiga, Japan—a few dozen figures arranged on two long tables form a modern-day bestiary of creatures drawn from Japanese mythology and reality.
Video: Beili Liu in Conversation with Kay Whitney
Watch Beili Liu, the cover artist for Sculpture’s March/April 2021 issue, speak with Kay Whitney virtually from her Austin studio about her material process and her work Rising Water.
Alexandre da Cunha
NAPLES, ITALY Thomas Dane Gallery Alexandre da Cunha works in the tradition of the readymade, creating elegant sculptures from cheap and disposable everyday objects (such as mops) that he selects as much for their formal qualities as for their references to labor.
Soft Persuasion: A Conversation with Beili Liu
The work of Beili Liu, an installation artist based in Austin, Texas, consists of hundreds of not-quite-identical units that construct an architecture of thought with correlatives in lived experience. Although the repetition of objects is a representation of single-mindedness, Liu’s installations leap from obsession and repetition to something profound and expansive, merging the personal with the political.
Higher Realities: A Conversation with Glenda León
Cuban-born artist Glenda León came of age during Fidel Castro’s regime, so she learned early on to make art from mostly free and cheap stuff. Now dividing her time between Havana and Madrid, León remains a media egalitarian whose odd assortment of materials includes everything from her fingernails, hair, and the sound of her breath to pianos and mountains of sand.
Betye Saar
NEW YORK The Morgan Library & Museum Each finished work in the exhibition is accompanied by pages from Saar’s working sketchbooks—these pairings open a fascinating window onto Saar’s process, illuminating what she calls “the mysterious transformation of object into art.”
Isabelle Albuquerque
LOS ANGELES Nicodim Gallery All fantasy, all good theater, requires some suspension of disbelief, a surrender to the moment. Total acceptance of what lies before us is what gives works of art their undeniable power. Isabelle Albuquerque’s work induces that suspension of disbelief, conjuring meaning from metaphor, innuendo, and metamorphosis.
Monumental Trickery: A Conversation with Krzysztof Wodiczko
In a career spanning more than 60 years, Krzysztof Wodiczko has made statues, buildings, and monuments almost magically come to life.
Perfume de Mujer: Una Conversación con Paula Zaccaria
Profesora de Educación Especial con orientación a la enseñanza de niños y adolescentes con disminución auditiva, Licenciada en Artes Visuales con especialización en escultura y profesora universitaria, la artista plástica Paula Zaccaria establece, desde sus comienzos, un vínculo fundamental con los sentidos, llevándolos directamente al plano de la composición como protagonista, especialmente el olfato.
You Get Out What You Put In: A Conversation with Patrick Strzelec
“You get out what you put in” could be a textbook definition of mold casting. I did learn how to make a proper mold from Patrick Strzelec in the 1990s, but this working-class American adage also sums up his integrity and transparency—as a maker, an educator, and a thinker.
