An exhibition of sculptures by John Chamberlain (1927–2011). The exhibition takes its title from a conversation between Chamberlain and poet Robert Creeley, and gathers work made over a sixty-year period. Chamberlain developed his distinctive aesthetic and techniques early in his career, citing the time he spent on an aircraft carrier as a member of the US Navy in the mid-1940s as influential on his understanding of scale and perspective. By compressing metal to generate complex folds and textures, then welding disparate elements together, he arrived at an innovative variant on three-dimensional collage that emphasizes volume and mass regardless of overall proportion. Chamberlain’s profound respect for the inherent properties of his materials is evident in the heterogeneity of his forms and the directness of his process, with the range of works on view also demonstrating the recurrence of certain physical gestures.
Manhattan, New York, NY