I haven't posted an artist of the week in a while. Here are two sculptors:
Arlene Shechet and Lynda Benglis.
Although two very different artists, different mediums and approaches, they both embrace process and have a painterly, corporeal quality to them. And of course, all that luscious pouring and hand-building of color and form!
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Lynda Benglis, Corner Piece, 1969 |
Lynda Benglis is a heroine of mine, and not just for her audacious
artworld antics back in the day! I first saw her work in 1997 at the Snug Harbor Cultural Center where I worked. It was a floor piece from the 70's that I looked at everyday for the two months of the exhibition. I have to admit that at the time I really did not get it at all!
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Lynda Benglis, King Pin III, 2007 |
Fast forward to 2011. I was playing around with spray foam making little gold sculptures for a show I was curating, and who did I come across but Lynda Benglis and her pieces
Helios and
King Pin, which not only looked almost exactly like what I was making, but were
way better, more sophisticated, and executed a whole decade before mine! Needless to say, I took the time to really look at her work after that. She's been creating relevant artwork for five decades now. I'm embarrassed I was so clueless when I first encountered that floor piece! but she has become one of my favorite artists..
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Arlene Shechet, Blue Velvet, 2010, filed ceramic, wood |
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Arlene Shechet, detail, Swoon, 2006, glazed ceramic, hydrocal, concrete, steel. 61.5 x 18 x 18 inches |
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Arlene Shechet, Because of the wind, 2010, glazed ceramic, steel, glazed kiln |
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Arlene Shechet, detail, Not Knot, 2010, glazed ceramic, hardwood, steel, 16 3/8 x 16 1/4 x 74 inches |
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Arlene Shechet, Beyond Itself, 2011, ceramic and glazed fire brick, 12 x 8 3/4 x 5 inches |
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Lynda Benglis, Bravo, 1972 |
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Lynda Benglis, Zita, 1972, cotton bunting, plaster, paint, glitter over aluminum screen, 44 × 15 × 11 inches |
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Lynda Benglis, Proto Knot, 1971 Wire mesh, cotton bunting, plaster, gesso and sparkles |
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Arlene Shechet, in foreground, Not Knot, 2010, glazed ceramic, hardwood, steel, 16 3/8 x 16 1/4 x 74 inches |
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Lynda Benglis, Untitled (VW), 1970, pigmented polyurethane foam |
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Arlene Shechet, Full On, 2016, glazed ceramic, painted and carved hardwood, gold, 19.5 x 16.5 x 12.5 inches |
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Lynda Benglis, Wing, 1970, cast aluminum, 67 x 59 1/4 x 60 inches
and EAT MEAT, 1969/75 Bronze 24 x 80 x 54 inches |
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Arlene Schechet, Clue, 2015, glazed ceramic, 11 × 8 × 8 inches |
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Arlene Shechet, Tumbling Through Time, 2016, glazed ceramic, hardwood, aluminum, steel. 35 x 18 x 17 inches Philip Guston, Untitled, 1968, acrylic on panel, 18 x 20 inches. |
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Lynda Benglis Hills and Clouds, 2014, cast polyurethane with phosphorescence and stainless steel
(yeah, it glows-in-the-dark!) |
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Arlene Shechet, Tattletale, 2012, glazed ceramic, glazed kiln brick and kiln shelf, and Plexiglas 63 × 24 1/2 × 22 inches |
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Arlene Shechet, Sounds Like, 2013, glazed ceramic on glazed kiln bricks
107 × 17½ × 17 inches |
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Arlene Shechet, Glazed firebrick |
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Lynda Benglis next to Helios,
1999, bronze with gold leaf, 24 1/2 x 21 x 10 inches |
Further looking and reading: