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Material Terrain: A Sculptural Exploration of Landscape and Place
July 6 - August 26, 2007
Material Terrain:
A Sculptural Exploration of Landscape and Place
includes nationally and internationally known sculptors who have created
monumental works to be installed both inside the museum and outside on Boyd
Plaza in a thought-provoking and playful exhibition opening to the public
on Friday, July 6, and running through Sunday, August 26, 2007. The museum's
first cell phone tour and podcast launches for the exhibition and includes
interviews with several of the artists. Visitors also have the opportunity
to write their own descriptive labels for several of the works as a way
to engage directly with the artwork.
Museum executor director Karen Brosius said, "This will be our most interactive exhibition to date. Visitors will have the opportunity to actively explore, not only the artists' thought processes in the cell phone tour, but also their own reactions to these works by writing down their thoughts at the 'write your own text panel' stations throughout the galleries."
These 26 sculptures, some enormous in size, are composed of surprising materials such as poured fiberglass, polyethylene, aluminum chain-link steel and wheat grass, and they are appearing in unusual spaces in and around the museum. Featured artists are Michele Brody, Kendall Buster, Ming Fay, Donald Lipski, Dennis Oppenheim, Roxy Paine, Wendy Ross, John Ruppert, Ursula van Rydingsvard, Valeska Soares and James Surls.
The artists are well known for their avant-garde approaches, and Material Terrain addresses provocative questions such as genetic engineering and modification of species, conservation, farming and logging. From giant pumpkins and deer light fixtures to grass skirts and concrete trees, the exhibition is visually engaging and should appeal to everyone from children to adults.
Van Rydingsvard was a featured artist in the January 2007 issue of ARTnews magazine and has exhibited in both national and international solo and group exhibitions. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Joan Mitchell Award and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Sculpture Award, among others. Oppenheim has exhibited internationally, including at the Tate Gallery, London, the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Whitney Museum of American Art and Museum of Modern Art in New York. Buster's work has been shown at the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C., and The Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, Pa., as well as internationally in Berlin and South Africa.
China born Fay says of his work, Monkey Pot, "Much like a scientist, I research and cultivate specific plant forms for their inherent and symbolic qualities, reinterpreting and reinventing them in my studio/laboratory greenhouse. Inspired by the metaphor of the Monkey Pot, an Amazon jungle plant with a pot-like shape that often traps monkeys in their desire to obtain the seeds inside. In my version, the Monkey Pots are a symbol for humans who are caught by their obsessive need to consume, acquire and conquer."
In a look at contemporary landscape based sculpture, the exhibition explores the relationship between the natural and constructed world, employing diverse materials and techniques to address the uneasy balance between nature and the man-made environment. Using natural and synthetic materials, these artists have created surprising works that either change the outside environment or bring elements of the outdoors into the museum.
Material Terrain: A Sculptural Exploration of Landscape and Place is organized by International Arts & Artists, Washington, D.C., with support from the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foundation.
(above: Donald Lipski, Exquisite Copse (Big Knot), 2002, Mixed media)
(above: Dennis Oppenheim, Digestion, Sculpture, 1988, Deer bodies, poured fiberglass, copper tubing)
(above: John Ruppert, Moon Gourds, 1997-98. Cast copper, cast aluminum, cast iron)
(above: John Ruppert, Three Aluminum Pumpkins, 2004, Cast aluminum)
(above: James Surls, Me the Flower and the Pistil, 2000, Poplar, oak, steel)
About International Arts & Artists
International Arts & Artists is a non-profit, comprehensive arts service organization. Founded in 1995, IA&A is using innovative approaches to respond to the needs of the international arts community.
IA&A promotes international and cross-cultural understanding by working with a multitude of museums and cultural institutions, showcasing a wide range of diverse artists, arts movements and cultural programs. IA&A has collaborated with institutions in more than 40 states in the United States and with institutions in France, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Brazil in an effort to make the arts more available to a broad segment of the population.
International Arts & Artists's Traveling Exhibition Service provides large and small institutions with a wide range of thematic and solo exhibitions.
Cell Phone Tour and Podcast
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