A spokesperson says---
“...Martin Puryear: Nexus”…. the most comprehensive presentation of his career in more than two decades. The exhibition features more than 70 works in a rich variety of materials and media, from sculptures in wood, glass, marble and cast bronze to rarely shown drawings and prints…
The exhibition follows Puryear’s explorations of form, material and process over the past 50 years, ranging from drawings he made in Sierra Leone during his service in the Peace Corps to sculptures featured in “Liberty/Libertà,” his celebrated U.S. Pavilion exhibition at the 2019 Venice Biennale. “Nexus” presents a fresh perspective on Puryear’s influential work, illuminating his interest in and involvement with material culture, craft traditions, African American history and science...
Highlights of the exhibition include:
“Self” (1978): Puryear’s iconic sculpture “Self” shows the importance of formal opposition in his work. Despite its appearance as a solid, heavy mass, “Self” is light and hollow, with an unobservable interior volume. Puryear assembled it piece by piece using cold molding, a technique he learned through his study of boatbuilding and has used in making some of his most celebrated sculptures.
“Bower” (1980): In this sculpture, loosely woven strips of spruce and pine delineate a large, open volume. “Bower” is the first of multiple sculptures in which Puryear uses intertwined lines to define a space. This technique evokes basket making, an art form Puryear has long admired. The sculpture is also inspired by the 1430 drawing of a chalice by Florentine Renaissance painter and mathematician Paolo Uccello (1397-1475), in which a dense network of lines animates a three-dimensional form.
“Alien Huddle” (1993-1995): Puryear constructed this sculpture’s three interlocking spheres using the cold molding technique evident in “Self.” The sculpture’s appearance shifts depending on the viewer’s position and perspective in relation to the work: As one moves around it, different spherical segments come in and out of view, revealing the many ideas a single object can inspire.
“Big Phrygian” (2010-2014): This sculpture culminates Puryear’s sustained engagement with the Phrygian cap, a headdress that signified formerly enslaved people in ancient Rome and later became a symbol of resistance against persecution during the French and American Revolutions.
“Aso Oke” (2019): This monumental cast-bronze sculpture borrows its form from the “fila gobi,” a ceremonial cap worn by Yoruba men of Nigeria. The intricate open latticework is a recurring form in Puryear’s body of work.
“A Column for Sally Hemings” (2021): Puryear produced this work for the U.S. Pavilion at the 2019 Venice Biennale. The work’s fluted base echoes the Doric columns at the entrance of the Palladian-style pavilion — which was modeled on Monticello, the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson. The sculpture’s title refers to Sally Hemings (1773-1835), the enslaved Black woman with whom Jefferson had at least six children.
The exhibition also features a film about Puryear’s most recent outdoor work, “Lookout” (2023), a permanent site-specific commission for the Storm King Art Center, along with archival materials that document other public commissions. Together, they reveal how Puryear extends his studio practice into the public realm and demonstrates his commitment to craft and concept on a monumental scale..."
