Sculpture

Andries Botha's sculptural forms made of found objects and natural materials serve to interrogate the natural and social order. In his questioning of natural order, Botha serves to interpret histories. His work has been exhibited extensively throughout Africa and Europe; he lives in Durban, South Africa. Interview by Carol Becker.

During her graduate studies at Hunter College, Alice Aycock began to forge links between personal and more inclusive subject matter and form. In her quest for contemporary monuments, Aycock wrote her Master’s thesis on U.S. highway systems. Aycock’s large environmental sculptures create intense psychological atmospheres. Although she uses primitive rites and architecture as sources, her implementation of contemporary materials removes those specific connotations.

This video features California artists: drawer and painter Deanne Belinoff, sculptor and poet Sana Krusoe, wood relief carver and painter Palema Holmes, and New York-based video artist Shirley Clark.

The Artists: Part 1 was produced in concert with the exhibition Four Solo Exhibitions at the Long Beach Museum of Art in 1988. The artists are introduced by LBMA’s senior curator Josine Ianco-Starrels. The video presents and contrasts the diverse styles, media, and personalities of these four women artists.

A documentary about Holt’s public installation work Dark Star Park in Arlington, Virginia, this video is about the process of developing and building the park. It includes commentary from the architects, contractors, foremen, and engineers who worked on the project, as well as with people who frequent the park. Holt transforms a site of urban blight into an aesthetically stimulating spot that addresses environmental issues.

Chris Burden came into prominence in the late 1960s, but unlike many of the performance artists of his generation, Burden was interested in empirical and scientific investigations. His goal was to return the control of art making to the artist and to question the relevancy of more established art practices. In this documentary Burden talks about his hard-hitting performances in the ’70s that took a jaded art world by surprise and continues on to discuss the sculptural and installation works of the ’80s.

Cai Guo-Qiang is a sculptor and installation artist who was born in China and trained in stage design at the Shanghai Drama Institute. He continued his training in Tokyo, where he lived from 1986 to 1995. His conceptual and installation work blend cultures and materials (including tea and gunpowder) to address political, spiritual, and social issues. He draws heavily on his native culture by incorporating herbal medicine, serpents, dragons, and Genghis Khan into his “fleeting” and site-specific works.

Kori Newkirk is currently gaining recognition for his mixed-media paintings and sculpture installations. Many of his paintings are urban landscapes in the form of beaded curtains made with plastic pony beads (typically used as hair ornaments) strung on stands of artificial braid. Newkirk also uses hair pomade to create wall paintings. Evocative in both texture and smell, this sensual material embodies cultural references that are both personal and political. His installations resonate with underlying social implications that speak to issues of self, identity, race, and urbanity.