Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg & More Examine Materiality in Sculptural Works
On view now at Pace Gallery’s online viewing room.
Like other art institutions grappling with coronavirus shutdowns, Pace Gallery has launched an online viewing room as an alternative to a physical exhibition. “Material Matters” explores the role of materiality in shaping artistic expression and providing the tools to “disrupt expectation, shape meaning and embody symbolic content,” as per a statement from the gallery. Spanning 60 years of artmaking, the viewing room includes the work of 11 different artists, including Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, Richard Tuttle and Lee Ufan.
Best-known for coining the term “combine,” which refers to a work that combines aspects of painting and sculpture, Rauschenberg was an influential artist that engaged in this type of material play. To create his 1975 work Quorum (Bones and Unions), he collaborated with workers from a local paper mill in India to create a “rag-mud” structure that suggests a symbolic embodiment of the context in which it was made. Other key pieces on view include Tuttle and Ufan’s ceramic sculptures, as well as Tara Donovan’s imaginative forms that derive from materials such as Slinkys, paper plates and pins.
Check out select works from “Material Matters” in the images above. The online viewing room is open now and will run until April 21.
In other art-related news, Gucci recently commissioned acclaimed illustrator Yoko Higuchi to translate her surrealistic designs onto the label’s Children’s Cruise 2020 collection.
