Kader Attia, Oil and Sugar #2 (still), 2007. Single-channel video (color, sound), 4:30 minutes. Gift of James and Audrey Foster. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Nagel Draxler, and Lehmann Maupin. © Kader Attia
Discover how artists transform commonplace materials into works of art and meaning.
Sculpture today is an expansive medium that includes a range of phenomena, forms, techniques, and materials; the category includes discrete objects, installations, staged video displays, and even performance. This display of collection works brings together pieces by a variety of artists who have used commonplace materials in new ways. Many employ everyday materials such as pins, glass, and wood, transcending their original function to suggest new material associations. Others use found objects and images to investigate socio-political contexts, creating new narratives for those objects.
Yet other artists probe the complex relationship of rendering three-dimensional forms in two-dimensional moving and still image. These thematic threads, among others, reflect the expansive vitality and diversity of object-making today. Included will be works from Mark Bradford, Taylor Davis, Tara Donovan, Kader Attia, Rachel Harrison, Charles LeDray, Roy McMakin, and Josiah McElheny, among others.
Episode No. 37 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features artist Josiah McElheny and A.Bitterman.