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These sculptures were looking for a new home at Christmas

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There was a “pop-up shop” in Newport News that I visited over the holidays which was selling a range of gifts, including paintings, sculpture, clothing, jewelry, and other assorted arts and crafts. There were a series of small sculptures – I’m guessing by the same artist – that featured what I might politely call “unattractive” men. You’ll see we have a purple “Mouseketeer” here below, along with an assortment of clowns and brooding figures. They’re certainly well made, nicely crafted, and the artist has creative skills. But I would think one would need to have a particular taste in art in order to want to live with these guys (“live” in the sense of having it on a shelf in your home, and seeing it every day). No disrespect intended; I see these as curiosities, and they certainly qualify as “conversation starters.”

kitsch art sculptures

I think I like the guy with the heavy eyebrows (at bottom left) best of all … I guess my initial reaction came from the fact that the purple mouseketeer seen above was in fact a full-frontal nude (I conveniently cropped the picture to keep this post rated PG). He’s the one that I think might have a hard time finding a new home. The rest of these guys? Well, they’re a bit kitschy, but I could see them growing on me in some way.

kitsch sculpture with wacky male characters


Artsology named as #6 in Top 50 Sculpture Blogs

Artist Spotlight: Meta Warrick Fuller

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I was recently introduced to the art of Meta Warrick Fuller (1877-1968), and thought it would be interesting to share some highlights of her career and art. She was a multi-talented African-American artist who wrote poetry, painted, and sculpted, and was a highly-accomplished person. As a high school student, she had an art project that was included in The Chicago World’s Fair in 1893; based on that, she won a scholarship to the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. After graduation, she traveled to Paris and within 3 years became a protege of Auguste Rodin. Upon her return to the United States in 1903, she became the first African-American woman to receive a U.S. government commission to create dioramas depicting African-American historical events.

Pictured below, clockwise from top left: a photo of Meta Warrick Fuller; Mother and Child, 1914; Self-portrait, 1915; Silence and Repose, circa 1930; and The Talking Skull, 1939.

sculpture by Meta Warrick Fuller, African American artist

We can barely scratch the surface of Meta Warrick Fuller’s life and work in this brief blog post, but hope that you’ll be intrigued enough to learn more about this important artist of the early 20th Century.

Ceramic sculptures by Kathy Butterly

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I saw an impressive display of ceramic work by artist Kathy Butterly at the recent Armory Show. You can see the way her work was displayed in the booth of Tibor de Nagy Gallery below. Scroll down for more …

ceramic sculpture by Kathy Butterly

Butterly thinks of herself as a painter who happens to work with clay in three dimensions, as opposed to utilizing the description of potter or ceramist. The work does begin as symmetrical cups or vases, but she then prods them into unique biomorphic shapes. I can certainly see biomorphic references in the works below (titles unknown; I didn’t see a checklist or labels for the works at this show). For example, in the piece below left, the opening at the top makes me think of a fish’s mouth, while the handles make me think of the big droopy ears on a Buddha. I’d guess that those are not really her intended visual references here, but the fact that the piece elicits those associations tells me that the piece is making me think. I especially like the piece below right; the pink shape on top seems like some sort of bug or decorative abstract spider crawling on top of this squished white shape. I also like the color of this “creature” on top as it brings to mind the color and weird shapes of the structures in the center panel of Hieronymus Bosch’s “Garden of Earthly Delights.”

ceramic sculptures by Kathy Butterly

To learn more about Kathy Butterly, check out her page on the Tibor de Nagy website.

Not Vital and Alex Katz in the reflection

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I saw this piece by Not Vital, below left, at the 2017 Armory Show. The title of the piece is “Head (Dong Xu),” 2014, and it’s a stainless steel sculpture with PVD coaqting measuring approximately 69 x 59 x 48 inches. The surface is so-perfectly polished and smooth, it’s like a mirror, as you can see in the reflection below right, which captures three people sitting in front of an Alex Katz painting across the way.

It would seem that keeping this piece perfectly polished “is vital,” so to speak … one fingerprint would ruin the effect, don’t you think? I have to admit that I’m not too familiar with Not Vital’s work, but the first thing that I learned surprised me: “Not Vital” is his real name – he’s a Swiss artist, and he was named after his father and grandfather. I’d like to learn more about him, as his paintings and his buildings look nothing like this sculpture, so he’s clearly well-rounded with his artistic ideas.

sculpture by Not Vital reflecting a painting by Alex Katz

Mysterious sculpture-like marine life skeleton

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When we were in St. John a few weeks ago, my son found this odd little piece of bone(?) or something that appears to be a fragment of marine life on the beach. There’s something organic about it, and I have no idea if it came from a sea animal, or coral, or something else. While looking through a St. John nature/picture book, I came across this picture (bottom right) of the claw of a hermit crab, and the teeth-like parts look similar to what my son found, but appear to be a single row, rather than the multiple rows found on this piece.

mysterious marine life skeleton or partial coral piece

At any rate, the 3 pictures above with the black background are all the same found object, just photographed from different angles. If you have any idea what this thing is, please let us know. In some ways, it makes me think of a Louise Bourgeois sculpture … see images below for this visual reference.

two examples of Louise Bourgeois sculptures

Experiencing Larry Bell’s red cubes on a sunny day

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I picked a good day to go into NYC and see the Whitney Biennial … sunny and in the high 70s, so I could mix up the time spent inside the museum with time outside on the terraces – and later, walking the High Line. At any rate, a sunny day is also a good time to see Larry Bell’s installation of “Pacific Red II (2017),” on the Whitney’s roof terrace. It’s an interesting piece, because on the one hand, it’s six stationary glass cubes, but it becomes an interactive piece in that one can walk around, between, and look through the cubes, getting a glimpse of other museum-goers as well as the NYC skyline through the prism of the red glass. Scroll down below the pictures to see a video of the artist describing his work.

Red glass tubes by Larry Bell on the terrace of the Whitney Museum

Pacific Red II (2017) by Larry Bell at the Whitney Biennial

Alexander Calder: Black Flag, with multiple views

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I don’t get a chance to see large-scale Alexander Calder sculptures very often, but when I do, I appreciate the fact that they take on multiple appearances, depending on the angle at which one sees it. I’ve discussed this a bit in the past, with the feature on Calder’s large “stabile” sculpture titled “L’Homme,” which is in Montreal. Today I wanted to share with you a few pictures of “Black Flag,” Calder’s sculpture from 1974 which is on view at Storm King Art Center.

The flag of the title is readily apparent in this view, a distinct form “flying” above an otherwise abstract collection of shapes. (I also really like how the shadows play a big part in how the piece is viewed from this angle)

Alexander Calder stabile sculpture Black Flag at Storm King Art Center

But when viewed from this angle (see below), it looks much more like an animal, perhaps a horse standing and looking towards the left. The flag shape doesn’t read so much like a flag this way, perhaps because the suggestion of an animal with four “legs” and a long “neck” transforms the “flag” into a head, at least from this angle.

Alexander Calder sculpture titled Black Flag

Then there’s this angle seen below, where the flag isn’t visible at all, and the sense of a four-legged animal doesn’t come across either. What does the sculpture look like to you from this view? Does it suggest anything specific, or does it become completely abstract? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Black Flag, sculpture by Alexander Calder at Storm King Art Center


Dispatch from Houston: Ron Mueck at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

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My wife is in Houston on a business trip, and sent me a couple photos from her visit to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The photos are all from the Ron Mueck exhibition, which runs through August 13th this summer. If you’re not familiar with Mueck’s work, he makes hyper-realist sculptures that are usually either much larger or much smaller than life size, which he explains this way: “We meet life-size people every day. Altering the scale makes you take notice in a way that you wouldn’t do with something that’s just normal.”

Before starting his art career in the mid 1990s, Mueck was a model maker and puppeteer for children’s television and films, so the evolution of his career makes sense from that perspective.

The first image that my wife sent from the exhibition was of “Mask II,” 2001–02, pictured below.

hyper realist sculpture titled Mask II by Ron Mueck at MFAH

The second pair of images that my wife sent were this front and back views of “Young Couple,” 2013. Mueck uses resin, fiberglass, silicone, and many other materials in his works, so they are listed simply as “mixed media.”

Sculpture titled Young Couple, by Ron Mueck at MFAH

Check out more examples of hyper realist sculpture here; we saw them at the 2011 Armory Show and the feature includes work by artists such as Carole Feuerman, Elizabeth King, Berlinde de Bruyckere, and Marc Sijan.

For more on Ron Mueck, check out his Wikipedia page here.

The mysterious discarded Dalmatian of Rice University

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I’m getting a few dispatches from my wife, who is in Houston on a business trip. Earlier in the day, it was hyper realist sculptures at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and now it’s this discarded Dalmatian at Rice University.

She was walking along Rice Boulevard on the edge of Rice University, as one can see in the furthest-distance picture at the bottom of the image below. She happened to notice a large “creature” seemingly hiding behind a dumpster and next to some other garbage, and a walk in closer revealed this large sculpture of a Dalmatian with a red leash leaned up against stacks of broken down cardboard. All I can make out from the map is that this is the “Facilities, Engineering and Planning Lot,” so it’s not clear whether there’s a theater department nearby, or what this Dalmatian sculpture might have been used for before being laid out to rest with the garbage.

discarded Dalmatian sculpture at Rice University

Combining plants and sculpture with Monty J.

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I’m a novice when it comes to ceramics, but these sculptural pieces by Monty J. Mattison just blow me away. Monty J. is a quintessential story of a rising New York City artist: he buses tables at a restaurant in Manhattan while creating these other-worldly vessels at his studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. He only makes one of each design, so they definitely fit the “sculpture” definition much more any thought of “home furnishings” (and the prices reflect the fact that you’re going to buy them at a gallery or high-end design store and not at Ikea!). Those details aside, I just want to share with you some of these magnificent creations!

Check out this first one, titled “Quinlan” ($3,300 at The Future Perfect) – the first thing that comes to mind for me is Harold Edgerton’s photograph of a bullet shot through an apple (check out our feature on Edgerton here).

Ceramics by Monty J Mattison and photo by Harold Edgerton

Here’s two looks at another piece, titled “Quinby” – the artist says: “I like art that can be of use as opposed to just appreciated statically on the wall … it’s there with you and you have to tend to it, so it’s much more personal to me.”

Ceramic sculpture by Monty J Mattison

Lastly, here’s a really funky pair: at left, “Tamara,” and at right, “Pilar.” I don’t see that Monty J. has a website anywhere, so for now, learn more about him and his work here.

one of a kind ceramics by Monty J Mattison

Commemorating Jackie Robinson in Jersey City

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I was walking around Jersey City last night after attending an art opening, and happened upon this sculpture of Jackie Robinson by artist Susan Wagner. I wasn’t sure why a sculpture of the famous Brooklyn Dodger would be perched in Jersey City, and I was curious to find out why … see more and learn what I found out here.

Two views of Susan Wagner's sculpture of Jackie Robinson in Jersey City

Public art featuring a giant beard meant for climbing

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Friedrich Engels was a German philosopher, social scientist, journalist, and businessman who worked with Karl Marx in developing Marxist theory. He’s also the inspiration for a giant 16 foot-tall sculpture of his head (and significant beard) meant for climbing, located at the University of Salford in Manchester, England.

climbing sculpture featuring the beard of Friedrich Engels

The sculpture was conceived and created by “Engine,” an arts production company based in Manchester. It features a climbing wall on the front (pictured above), a viewing platform at the top, and stairs on the rear side (pictured below). Jai Redman, an artist and director at Engine, stated that the sculpture is “… a metaphor for how it is an effort and a struggle to pull ourselves out of ignorance.” It also looks like a fun, interactive piece of public art!

Friedrich Engels interactive beard climbing sculpture in Manchester

New Gallery Insider with Ron Mueck

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Our latest “Gallery Insider” features hyper-realist sculptor Ron Mueck and his recent self-titled exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Click on the link above (or the picture below) to see highlights from the exhibition, and for teachers (or homeschoolers) looking for materials to use in teaching contemporary art, check out the feature’s essential questions and topics for discussion which you can use in the classroom.

Click here to see all of our Gallery Insider features.

Gallery Insider featuring sculptor Ron Mueck

Walking Flowers and other ceramics by Fernand Leger

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When I think of the artist Fernand Léger, his famous cubist-inspired paintings come to mind. We have two examples of his paintings here: below left, Men In The City from 1919 and below right, The Stove, from 1918.

two cubist inspired paintings by Fernand Leger

It came as a bit of a surprise today to see a funky little table sculpture, below left, and to find out it is a ceramic piece by Léger titled “The Flower That Walks.” A little research shows that he made larger versions of this piece as well, as you can see below right.

The Flower That Walks by Fernand Leger

This made me curious, what other types of ceramic works did Léger make beyond this one walking flower theme? Here’s another pair of Léger ceramics: below left, The Large Rooster, 1952; below right: The Children’s Garden, also from 1952. It’s quite interesting to see works in three dimensions by an artist for whom I’ve always seen in two dimensions, it’s a whole new way of seeing his visual style.

ceramic sculptures by Fernand Leger


Found rusty bust: robot head?

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I was riding my bike up Ridgewood Avenue in Glen Ridge (NJ) and noticed something odd on the ground as I rode by quickly. Depending on the day, it might be a 50-50 chance that I’ll stop and go back to take a second look at whatever it was that caught my eye while passing by. Since I had my phone/camera with me, this was one of those days that I decided to stop, go back 10 feet, and take a look.

My initial view of this chunk of rusty metal is seen below left; glancing at it here, it looks like the bottom part of a bed frame – would you call it the bed “feet,” or bed “legs?” It looks like it was so rusty that it just snapped off of the bed frame.

Well, I guess that’s the logical way to see this thing, but to be honest, when I first looked at it, I wasn’t thinking about beds at all. To me, it looked like a little man … a rusty “bust” – as in “a sculpture of a person’s head, shoulders, and chest.” So I picked “him” up off the street and put him on the curb, as you can see below right. Does it look a little more like a robot head or bust now that you see him upright? I think so – it’s like he has red hair, big eyes, and a firm, round chin. If I wasn’t on my bike, I might have brought him home with me.

found piece of rusty metal that looks like a robot head with 2 eyes

SOFA Chicago 2017

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SOFA Chicago opens tomorrow at the Festival Hall on the Navy Pier on East Grand Avenue in Chicago. “SOFA” in this case means “Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art and Design,” but then why isn’t it SOFAD? I guess the show organizers think SOFA sounds better.

Unfortunately, I won’t be anywhere near Chicago over the course of the show, which runs through this Sunday, November 5th. But I’m curious about the “functional art” and “design” aspects of this show. I wanted to take a look to see what kind of functional art works will be on view at SOFA Chicago, and here’s a few highlights that caught my attention.

Here’s a pair of cabinets by Jim Rose: below left is “Two Door Housetop Quilt Cupboard,” 2016, and below right is “Two Door Housetop Quilt Cupboard,” 2015. Both of these are made with hot-rolled and found painted steel.

Quilt cabinets designed by Jim Rose at SOFA Chicago

This next one comes from the “sculpture” category. The artist is Hoss Haley, and the work is titled “Low Shoulder Erratics,” made with aluminum and salvaged road signs (each one is unique).

road sign sculptures by Hoss Haley

The show also includes paintings, perhaps those are considered part of the “objects” category? At any rate, below left is “A Sunday Sketching,” 2017, an oil on panel with mixed media piece by Ben Steele, mixing a visual reference to Georges Seurat’s famous painting “Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte” but presented conceptually as something “drawn” on an Etch-A-Sketch! Below right is Francesco Lo Castro’s “Present Extreme,” 2016, which is a painting made with acrylic, spray enamel and layered epoxy resin on wood.

paintings on view at SOFA Chicago 2017

If you are in the Chicago area and want to see this show, click here for more information.

Incredible Papier-mâché sculpture made with toilet paper, by Marvin Francis

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I saw this incredible papier-mâché sculpture at the Outsider Art Fair, and wanted to learn more about it. The artist is Marvin Francis, who made it while incarcerated at Eastern Kentucky Correctional Facility, using toilet paper and glue. Marvin was convicted of murder in 1986, and at the time he was twenty-five years old, a divorced Navy vet, a Detroit-born, Kentucky-bred high school dropout who had no background in art at all. While in prison, an art-appreciation teacher encouraged him to create something, and the floodgates of creativity were opened.

While his art work is now handled by art galleries and has been purchased by museums, Marvin gives away nearly every penny he earns to charities that work with abused children. Marvin was released in 2014 after serving over 28 years, and from a report that I found dated 2016, was living in Tennessee with a part-time job and still making art.

papier mache prison art by Marvin Francis

Horse sculptures on the bank payroll

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Who needs security guards when you can have two near-life-sized horse sculptures standing guard at the entrance to the tornado shelter area? This view is from the lower-level area of US Bank at 50th and Halifax in Edina, MN. If you scroll down to the 2nd picture, you’ll see the big horse means business. Or rather, perhaps he’s saying “n-n-neigh funny business around here.” Sorry for the bad joke.

horse sculptures in US Bank lower level, Edina, MN

I wouldn’t cross this guy.

horse sculpture at US Bank in Edina

Structure-piercing sculpture by Alberto Timossi

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There was a travel story about Southern Italy in the New York Times Magazine, and one of the pictures in the article was this:

Alberto Timossi sculpture at MUSMA

Of course I know the sculpture doesn’t literally “pierce” the building, but I like the visual suggestion of that and wanted to learn more about the artist, Alberto Timossi. What I learned is that he was born in Naples (Italy) in 1965, studied at the Art School Paul Klee in Genoa and graduated in sculpture at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Carrara. He lives and works in Rome and is currently a high school art teacher there (in addition to being an active sculptor with a steady exhibition history). The picture above is a piece titled “Parts of speech,” and the building is MUSMA (Museum of Contemporary Sculpture in Matera).

From what I can gather, the work often includes orangish-red pvc pipe, and more often than not, it appears to pierce various structures. I found one article (originally in Italian) which refers to his work as “urban interventions,” which is a concept that I find appealing. Let’s take a look at some of his other urban interventions. Below left is “Traces,” 2017, and below right is “Travel Flows,” 2015. I love how the end piece of this hallway-piercing tube is an overhead light for a seating/reading area. Very cool!

sculpture by Italian artist Alberto Timossi

To learn more about Alberto Timossi, check out his website here.

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