The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents one of the largest crochet works to date by Ernesto Neto

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, March 29, 2024


The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents one of the largest crochet works to date by Ernesto Neto
Installation view, Ernesto Neto, SunForceOceanLife, 2020, crocheted textile and plastic balls, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © 2020 Ernesto Neto. Photo: Albert Sanchez & Tom Dubrock.



HOUSTON, TX.- This summer, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, presents Ernesto Neto: SunForceOceanLife, a major commission and one of the largest crochet works to date by the renowned Brazilian artist. Suspended from the soaring ceiling of Cullinan Hall of the Caroline Weiss Law Building, SunForceOceanLife forms a monumental labyrinth of brightly colored pathways defined by intricately crocheted netting. Reaching a height of 12 feet in the air, the pathways spiral outwards from the center of the gallery to create an interactive, multi-sensory sculptural intervention for visitors to explore. The seventh installment of the Museum’s summer immersive art series, SunForceOceanLife will be on view through Sunday, September 26, 2021.

“Ernesto Neto has captivated audiences around the world with his multi-sensory, structural environments—each one unique in nature and its visitor experience,” said Gary Tinterow, Director, the Margaret Alkek Williams Chair, MFAH. “We are delighted to bring this monumental, one-of-a-kind piece to our Museum and into our collection. It exemplifies our ongoing commitment to Latin American art and presentations of immersive, contemporary installations year after year.”




SunForceOceanLife is a spiraling, structural marvel that highlights the cyclical relationship between the sun and the sea to produce life on earth. This massive installation fills Cullinan Hall with yellow, orange, and green materials that are hand-woven into a myriad of patterns and sewn together in a spiral formation. At nearly 30 feet x 79 feet x 55 feet, the structure is suspended from the ceiling and spirals outwards from the center of Cullinan Hall to form one point of entry and one point of exit: the former at the entryway to the pavilion and the latter at the rear of the piece facing the south wall. As visitors enter, they follow a path through the interior passages to its center. Each crocheted section is filled with soft, plastic balls underfoot that move with each step, forcing visitors to focus on their inner balance and the stability of their own bodies.

“A structural feat, this site-specific piece for Cullinan Hall takes inspiration from the artist’s long-term study of and commitment to the art, culture, and traditions of various cultures that form Brazil,” said Mari Carmen Ramírez, Wortham Curator of Latin American Art and Founding Director of the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA), MFAH. “Neto transforms crochet, a popular Brazilian craft, taught to him by his grandmother and typically executed by women on a small, delicate scale, into massive structures that float several feet above the ground.”

“SunForceOceanLife is about fire, the vital energy that enables life on this planet,” said artist Ernesto Neto. “Every time we complete one crocheted spiral with the polymer string used in this work, we burn both ends with fire in a gesture that evokes meditation, prayer, and other sacred rituals. I hope that the experience of this work will feel like a chant made in gratitude to the gigantic ball of fire we call the sun, a gesture of thanks for the energy, truth, and power that it shares with us as it touches our land, our oceans, and our life. SunForceOceanLife also unites the disciplines of art and culture with biology and cosmology; it directly engages the body as does a joyful dance or meditation, inviting us to relax, breathe, and uncouple our body from our conscious mind. The sensation of floating, the body cradled by the crocheted fruits of our labor, brings to mind a hammock: the quintessential indigenous invention that uplifts us and connects us to the wisdom and traditions of our ancestors.”










Today's News

June 7, 2021

Toomey & Co. Auctioneers to hold 'Fine Art + Furniture & Decorative Arts' on June 9

Lost painting by Sir Winston Churchill from the Onassis Family Collection to be offered at Phillips

Major presentation of new works by Yayoi Kusama opens at Victoria Miro

Collectors of digital NFTs see a 'Wild West' market worth the risk

Clarence Williams III, a star of 'Mod Squad,' is dead at 81

David Zwirner opens an exhibition of paintings by Bridget Riley

Now Open: Diane Arbus curated by Carrie Mae Weems

Calder's Untitled and Kirchner's Pantomime Reimann: Die Rache der Tänzerin will highlight Christie's sale

The Metropolitan Museum of Art launches "Your Met Art Box" in collaboration with Citymeals on Wheels

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents one of the largest crochet works to date by Ernesto Neto

Yoshi Wada, inventive creator of sound worlds, dies at 77

Friedman Benda opens a group exhibition curated by Glenn Adamson

Four Scottish artists' work acquired by Government Art Collection

Christie's Paris Design sales achieved a total of €9,384,875

Original Air takes flight: The largest sneaker auction ever held at Christie's

Eva Birkenstock appointed new Director of the Ludwig Forum for International Art in Aachen

How 'Hamilton' saved a bookstore from dying

A beloved London concert hall grows bold as it turns 120

Kerlin Gallery opens solo exhibitions of works by Elizabeth Magill and Kathy Prendergast

Almine Rech London opens an exhibition of work by Larry Poons

With 'In the Heights,' Anthony Ramos finds stardom on his own terms

Want more diverse conductors? Orchestras should look to assistants.

$19 million in endowment gifts given to Minneapolis Institute of Art

Hemingway-inscribed For Whom the Bell Tolls headed to Heritage Auctions

Christie's achieves €8,2 million for the Post-War and Contemporary art day sale

Ground-breaking male form sale at Bonhams

Difference between Screen Printing and Digital Printing




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful