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Tony Cragg -- fields of heaven
Seven Works for Siena
Palazzo Pubblico
Prato S.Agostino
Santa Maria della Scala
19 giugno-13 settembre
Barbara Cooper -- "A Persistance of Growth"
Fassbender Gallery
September 11 - October 11, 1998
Just returning from a whirlwind tour of the Tuscan countryside, with visions of Tony Cragg at the Santa Maria della Scala in Siena, Barbara Cooper's large organic forms at Fassbender echo themes common to contemporary sculpture. Many artists in general have chosen large organic forms to continue dialog started by Robert Morris with his large, inorganic forms, which are supposed to represent the self in context with environment. Artists such as Tony Cragg and Barbara Cooper, however, have begun to refine this theme by changing the forms to organics while the size of the sculpture remains "life-size" or "human-sized."
The Santa Maria della Scala was a very interesting place to view modern art not only due to the vast history of the Commune of Siena, but the centuries old architecture where the exhibit was displayed with low, vaulted brick ceilings providing a backdrop to the sculpture where the viewer is brought into direct association with the artwork. Tony Cragg's work presented here thematically mixed with this environment. One piece was entirely made of over-sized flower-pot drip plates stacked on top of each other along with other pottery fragments -- all made out of the same clay-pot material, but stack just slightly taller than an average human. The outline of this piece was somewhat a wide ovoid. The color of the clay-pot material mixed with the brick walls and ceiling, and recalled its location. Similarly, drawings of clay old water-jugs stacked in boxes and layers also mixed with the ceramic history of the area. These works, however, express history, human usage of environment, and their scale invoke the expression that we are what we do or make out of ourselves.
Deeper into the show, the viewer encounters a mid-sized piece of organic form completely covered with white dominos. The form itself is not defined; an amorphous blob pulled in unrelative directions to form appendages of a sort, yet nevertheless, doesn't immediately relate to animal or any other organic form. Once again, scale is large enough and the environment in which it is shown presents a human-like interactive dialog, this time, almost political due to the use of dominos to cover the sculpture.
Another piece in the show is presented in two sizes, an early version, and a later, much larger version without modification. This piece is a small labyrinth-like organic formed out of a slab and twisted like a crumpled piece of paper except there are no hard curves or angles. The structure is a dark brown/black patina covered bronze. The smaller version is not as forceful as the larger, and seems like it was an early attempt or project. The larger version is more forceful and meaningful in that, like most everything in this review, is human-sized. It becomes obvious that the larger version is the better of the two, and makes the small version a study, that other artists know wasn't a study, just an inappropriate conclusion to a project. Not everything works when it is scaled larger, but this work does, and it becomes complete at its current size. I would think that if scaled larger, this piece may lose what it is trying to convey.
The last work in the show is a prop scene of dark-stained wooden cafe chairs and table with wood scraps studded with different size and weight eyelet screws and hooks. This piece is the most disjointed in the show as it doesn't seem to have any relationship to the other works in the show. It is, however, possibly a piece about social politics between participants in a café, in which case the work is fitting for the show considering all the cafés and restaurants throughout Europe.
Unfortunately, I have no visuals for the Tony Cragg show. This is a terrible fault of this review because Tony Cragg's sculptures collected in the show entitled "Fields of Heaven," were executed specifically for Siena. The seven works presented in this show are, in my view, Tony Cragg's best work. Having researched Tony Cragg's previous work over the internet, I find I am not as moved, nor do I get a sense of recognition or inspiration from any of his other work I have seen. He uses large, ceramic-like shapes in some of his previous work, which makes him a good choice for a modern sculpture consignment by an Italian Comune, but he has also used smaller, organic shapes not animal in nature or inspiration. I most certainly have viewed Tony Cragg's work before with a contempt towards the current trend of sculpture associations to types of excreted fluids. And I am positive I have dismissed Tony Cragg's work previously based on the associations he's made to poorly conceived conceptualizations. His seven works for Siena, however, are very much in tune with the Tuscan region of Italy, and quite possibly is his best work yet. The viewer can identify with these works in ways you can't identify them in modern, sterile museum environments. It is possible I was reacting to the environment the work was displayed in as well, and not just the work in themselves; in which case perhaps modern and contemporary art museums and galleries probably should rethink their display of such work.
Barbara Cooper's work, at Fassbender through October 11, also focuses on organic forms on a human scale. However, Barbara also has limited her materials to organics with inorganic cores adding slightly more depth to the overall work. Large, tree-trunk-like shapes in pairs or singular, writhing around each other on the floor, or standing upright. Root-like structures like large hands grabbing at something below the floor surface, yet unable to get to its target. Human-sized seed pod structures curled up on the floor almost ready to burst open to let out the dried seeds hidden inside. All these structures are covered by wood shavings and layered like scales. A piece or two, Barbara allows the viewer to see the wood glue she used oozing down the sides like sap on the side of a tree. All sculptures show a steel-pipe structure core around which the wood shaving covered portions are wrapped around; like cocoons on branches instead of actually defining the shape. The root/hand structure looks as if it was a tree cut at the base and new growth is appearing from the center of the old trunk (completely unnatural for a deciduous tree like she seems to be emulating, but the viewer may take this into consideration when reading the work for interpretation).
Barbara Cooper, Integumen, 1998, wood & steel,
57 x 16 x 20 inches. Photo: Dean Jacobson.
Barbara's work emulates the conceptualist/minimalist views of the Mind/Body politic the best between herself and Tony Cragg. Barbara's work draws a suggestion of human form trapped inside natural shapes. Tony's work suggests ego, but his work is not as telling because of his use of inorganic shapes such as ceramic pot themes. We identify with nature more than we animate inanimate objects, so Barbara's work is more obvious. Barbara's work you definitely get a sense of something being alive or in the process of new life; or perhaps there is also in a couple a pieces the sense of something nearing the end of life, while a new one begins nearby. All things considered, Barbara has done a marvelous job of making modern sculpture live and breath on its own. Her work does not demand a proper environment to be viewed from, and will command presence where ever it is placed. It is interesting to view the pieces together because they interact together so well. While one piece can stand on its own, it strengthens the message to have the others nearby, as if the story of a complete life, and not just a moment in time. I have to admit initial confusion over the use of the inorganic steel pipe structures underneath, however it doesn't seem any more unnatural than our calcium based skeleton bone holding up our skin; the steel pipe structure provides a secondary material to draw more correlations with objects in nature such as between hand and fingernails, or birds and their beaks.
Fassbender is also representing earlier work by Barbara Cooper, and a couple related drawings by Barbara were also on display when I visited.
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