Martin Puryear opens first London solo exhibition at Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, December 6, 2024


Martin Puryear opens first London solo exhibition at Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art
Martin Puryear, Night Watch, 2011. Maple, willow, OSB board, 295 x 310 x 122 cm (116 x 122 x 48 in). Glenstone Museum, Potomac, MD. Photograph by Christian David Erroi. © Martin Puryear, courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery.



LONDON.- Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art announces a solo exhibition of works by the distinguished American artist Martin Puryear. Showing in London for the first time in a public institution, this solo exhibition spans almost 40 years of the artist’s career and presents over thirty works, including sculpture and works on paper.

Martin Puryear’s abstract sculptures are extraordinary. His reductive forms have a unique aesthetic and are loaded with a poignant sense of cultural history. Puryear explores human identity and politics with such intriguing subtlety that viewers cannot help but be enthralled by them. Meticulously constructed from a diverse range of materials, usually wood, most of his sculptures are hand-made by the artist himself using traditional techniques. Puryear’s working methods are clear testimony to his deep respect for skilled craftsmanship and his intense appreciation of the natural materials he chooses to use. The artist’s approach to his materials, his ability to use them to define both interior and exterior spaces, along with his inherent sensibility, all combine to produce profoundly considered works, infused not only with poignancy, strength and fragility but also with subliminal readings of our collective history.

In the ground floor gallery are large-scale works, such as the Big Phrygian , 2010–2014. This five-foot tall cedarwood sculpture, painted bright vermillion, resembles the distinctive conical shape of a Phrygian cap. People of ancient Eastern Europe and Anatolia wore such caps, which in the modern world have come to signify the pursuit of liberty. More surreal is The Load , 2012, a wooden cube-shaped structure mounted above an axle connecting two found wooden cartwheels. This mobile cage, or cart with a long pulling shaft, has inside it a single gigantic eyeball looking out to the rear. Any viewer looking in through the wooden grid at the eye’s dark glass pupil will find their own reflection captured within the cage.

In the first floor gallery, the elegant curvilinear lines of Puryear’s sculptures grace various wall pieces, and in particular Phrygian Spirit , 2012–2014. This mixed-media wall sculpture, made predominantly of Alaskan yellow cedar, simply defines the negative space of a Phrygian (liberty) cap. In contrast to the fragility of that piece is the sheer solidity of the iron sculpture Shackled , 2014, which recalls the shackles worn by slaves when they were taken to America – a clear commentary on social history. Some visitors may relate this work to Puryear’s colossal Big Bling , 2015, a forty-foot high, multi-tiered, public commission sculpture recently exhibited in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Print-making, too, has always been part of Puryear’s practice and a selection of prints are presented in a separate gallery on the first floor of the foundation.

On the outdoor terrace of Parasol unit is the towering – almost eight feet tall – evocative bronze work Question , 2013–2014, which appears to rise up like a shiny, twisting liquorice lace and anchor itself to the ground in a bulbous gourd-shaped form.

Curated by Ziba Ardalan, the Martin Puryear exhibition is accompanied by a publication, a limited edition and a full programme of related educational events aimed at involving the public.










Today's News

September 19, 2017

Exhibition honors the life and career of iconic San Antonio artist Chuck Ramirez

Exhibition at Lévy Gorvy London features early charcoal-on-paper 'sculptures' by Gilbert & George

Banksy honours Basquiat with new London murals

Degas's Drinker: Portraits by Marcellin Desboutin on view at the Fitzwilliam Museum

Simon Lee Gallery opens first solo exhibition in America of Japanese artist Ryuji Tanaka

Martin Puryear opens first London solo exhibition at Parasol unit foundation for contemporary art

Exhibition at Tanya Bonakdar Gallery features three new bodies of work by Lisa Oppenheim

Group exhibition featuring paintings by three artists on view at Heather Gaudio Fine Art

lnstitut français brings the eclectic and visionary French artist Höel Duret to Milan

First important European art pottery sale from the collection of Jason Jacques offered at Heritage Auctions

Exhibition of contemporary art from the United Arab Emirates opens at me Collectors Room

Exhibition of recent and significant historic work by Mary Corse on view at Lehmann Maupin

Remote Scottish Postboxes by Martin Parr to be published by RRB Photobooks

Meijer Gardens' fall exhibition celebrates Rodin and the contemporary figurative tradition

Bronx Museum announces new Deputy Director Klaudio Rodriguez

The Davis Museum poses universal questions about social culture in new exhibition

Eiffel Tower starts work on anti-terror upgrade

Exhibition explores sound as a material and its unique power to shape experience and environment

Reflex Gallery in Amsterdam exhibits works by Chinese artist Chen Nong

"Baggage Claims" and "Virtual Views: Digital Art from the Thoma Foundation" open in Orlando

Maddox Gallery opens its third London gallery space with a solo exhibition of works by David Yarrow

First U.S. retrospective of artist and designer Nathalie Du Pasquier on view in Philadelphia

Susan Inglett Gallery exhibit a room size fabric and ceramic installation by Beverly Semmes

The work of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub on view at Akademie der Künste




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
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

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