GRAND RAPIDS, MI.- Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, the most significant sculpture and botanic experience in the Midwest and an emerging cultural destination on the national scene, is pleased to organize the premier museum presentation of the drawings of world-renowned sculptor, Magdalena Abakanowicz. 50 works complete the exhibition, all independent efforts, many made public for the first time. The drawings span the universal themes and mysteries of the human experience. Magdalena Abakanowicz: The Drawings is open September 29-December 31, 2006.

Although internationally acclaimed for her sculpture, Abakanowicz is equally prolific and prodigious with respect to her drawings. In any medium, she masterfully explores and exploits the inherent properties of the material. Magdalena Abakanowicz: The Drawings challenges the viewer to understand both human dignity and tragedy. It encourages the examination of two-dimensional forms, through highly tactile drawings that present the immediate and lasting presence of the artist.

“Undoubtedly, the drawings are the least known, yet the most immediate, aspect of Magdalena Abakanowicz’s repertoire. They are created through a variety of materials and methods, in graphite, pen, ink and gouache, often with her fingers,” said Joseph Becherer, director of the Sculpture Program and curator at Meijer Gardens. “Spending time with the extent of work that forms this exhibition is in many ways like spending time with the artist herself. They echo her life experiences and her conviction that the individuality of every person is followed by the way they express themselves.”

Exploring ideas through series, Magdalena Abakanowicz: The Drawings presents groups of trees, flowers and flies as well as heads and heads with torso. Each drawing is monochromatic with individual lines joining to create forms in a manner that presents images which seem to hover about the surface. Her fingertips, guided by vision, offer metaphoric visions of nature and in the context of a largely industrialized world, Abakanowicz forces us to pause and consider the mysteries of organic, global subjects, self-examination and fate.

“The feelings we have are the same regardless of culture, race or identity,” said Abakanowicz. “As we react to pain and joy, we react to art, our whole body reacts to art and all systems are part of such a reaction.”

Magdalena Abakanowicz was born in Falenty, Poland in 1930, and she continues to reside in Warsaw. Her home life was thrown into upheaval by the occupation of Poland by Germany and then Russia. She remained in Poland through the years of Communist rule and then through the changes under the Solidarity movement and afterwards. Her work often reflects the emotional heritage of her political environment. Abakanowicz studied at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts from 1950 to 1954 and in the following years painted a series of large gouaches on paper and canvas. Abakanowicz started sculpting soft and pliable objects that were rough to the touch. First came the Abakans (1966-75), so-called after her own name. These enormous three dimensional hanging structures, woven form a variety of fibres, had tails, openings and encrustations. Gradually the objects became hard but continued to be made of fragile or perishable materials. These were the seated or standing figures, backs, hands, heads. She has received honorary doctorates from the Royal College of Art in London and the Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, Poland. In 2005 she received the International Sculpture Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award. For additional information please visit www.abakanowicz.art.pl/