New York
Gary Snyder Gallery
Two mid-size rooms barely contained the luminous effect generated by Richard Van Buren’s new wall and floor sculptures. Spaciously displayed, the sinuous, winding forms all delighted the eye like brightly colored jewels and enticed with highly ornate surfaces coated in an array of delicate hues studded with shells. The extravagant surfaces might surprise someone familiar with the artist’s work from the late ’60s and early ’70s. During that time, Van Buren was known for large-scale, irregularly shaped, plywood and fiberglass sculptures exemplified by Free Epton (1966), which was included in “Primary Structures,” the Jewish Museum’s landmark exhibition of Minimalism. He also created poured, pigmented resin and fiberglass pieces such as For Najeeb (1972) that pushed the boundaries between painting and sculpture like similar work by Lynda Benglis. …see the entire review in the print version of January/February’s Sculpture magazine.
