Some Sculpture

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Armory: Esther Klas sculpture at Peter Blum Gallery, New York City .

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The four sculptors whose work you see here are all working in a human scale. Three had work on exhibition during Armory week; one is included in the Whitney Biennial.

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Esther Klas’s roughhewn forms combine the geometric and the organic in roughly equal measure. They feel monumental despite their relatable size.  Peter Blum showed this one work, above and below, at the Armory fair but featured an installation of Klas’s sculptures in Miami.

Another view of Esther Klas sculpture

Volta: Rachel Beach at Blackston Gallery, New York City

I’ve been a fan of Rachel Beach’s work ever since I saw it at a small art fair in Manhattan a couple of years ago during Armory week. Then Beach was showing her complex carved wood forms suggestive of architectural moulding, but doing so in a reductive way: by isolating and presenting one element in each work. The work has gotten more geometric over time, so that now it’s more about the architectural structure and less about the decorative aspect of it. (Not that “decorative” was or is a bad thing.) Beach's balance of form and surface, color and natural wood, and the complement of works on paper, made for one of the most compelling single-artist exhibitions at the Volta fair.

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Two more views of Rachel Beach sculptures at Volta

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Whitney Biennial: Vincent Fecteau sculpture against the complement of Andrew Masullo paintings

Vincent Fecteau has several sculptures in the Whitney Biennial, up now. When I first saw his work at Matthew Marks Gallery a few years ago, I was smitten. How to describe them? If Frank Geary designed car engines, Fecteau’s sculpture is what they’d look like. As with the other sculpture shown in this post, the scale is approachably human. The Whitney info tells us that Fecteau made clay models of these works, then cast them in gypsum cement, reworked the surface with resin clay and then painted it.

Above: Closer view of the green sculpture

Below: Opposite-side view of the blue
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Armory: Arlene Shechet sculptures on integral pedestals, with cast paper sculpture on wall, at the Jack Shainman Gallery, New York City

Arlene Shechet is having a major moment right now. Good! It’s much deserved. Working primarily in clay, but also in cast crystal (see Textility) and cast cotton pulp, she is creating formidable forms. I showed the installation of her work in Some Armory Week Installations, as Jack Shainman did a beautiful job of displaying it, but here I’ve singled out a few sculptures.

Below: Another view with a detail of the surface