NYAB Event - “The Gravity of Sculpture: Part II” Exhibition

“The Gravity of Sculpture: Part II” Exhibition

Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs

This event has ended.

By the late 1970s, the term “sculpture” had come to include all manner of events (actions and performances), materials (plastics, resins, rubbers, etc.), media (photography, film, video and electronics) and modes of presentation (site-specific installations, street works, documentation, etc.). “Sculpture” as a term had been transformed into the catchall and as a discipline it no longer had an identity of its own.

Saul Ostrow’s original intention in organizing this exhibition was to re-define sculpture as a discreet object - as a concrete thing -something phenomenal, rather than textual (anecdotal) or pictorial. What terms might now be used to establish the identity of sculpture as a specific category of objects given the history of sculpture’s engagement since the 50s with certain concerns, issues, and strategies. The Gravity of Sculpture was therefore meant to be a snapshot (a family portrait) of sculpture after it had climbed down off its pedestal, plinth, or base.

The dual meanings of the word Gravity in the title are seriousness (the enormity/importance of a situation) and force, the physical attraction that one object exerts on another. All of the works in this exhibition in some manner either employ or exploit the latter as an organizing principle.

The exhibition features the works of seventeen artists: Bill Albertini, Beth Campbell, Tony Feher, Brian Gaman, Robert Gero, Jeff Grant, DeWitt Godfrey, Sarah Kabot, Peter Kreider, Russell Maltz, Curtis Mitchell, Roxy Paine, Paul O’Keeffe, Alex Seton, Stephen Schofield, Jeanne Silverthorne, and Barry Underwood.

Saul Ostrow is an independent critic and curator. He is Art Editor at Large for Bomb Magazine and the former Chair of Visual Arts and Technologies at The Cleveland Institute of Art (2002-2012.) In 2011, he founded Critical Practices Inc. (www.21stprojects.org) to promote critical discourse. Previously, Ostrow served as Co-Editor of Lusitania Press (1996-2004) and as the Editor of the book series Critical Voices in Art, Theory and Culture (1996- 2006) published by Routledge, London. As a curator he has organized over 70 exhibitions in the US and abroad. His critical writings have appeared in art magazines, journals, catalogs, and books in the USA and Europe. Since 2008, Ostrow and the artist, Charles Tucker have collaborated on a project in which they seek to construct a quantifiable “systems-network” by which to analyze the subject and content of art-works.