Past

The Sculpture Show

  • 17th December 2011 − 24th June 2012 | Modern One (Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art)

Minimalism and After

In the mid-1960s, artists in New York such as Donald Judd and Sol LeWitt began to make three-dimensional works of art – they rejected the word ‘sculpture’ as too traditional – that were totally abstract, of extreme formal geometrical simplicity and constructed by fabricators according to the artist’s plans. This type of work became known as Minimal Art. It avoided personal expression and emotion and aimed at seamless transposition between concept and execution. Formal composition was avoided in favour of the repetitive and serial elements.

Their main achievement was to have created works which did not try to create illusions, nor have any hidden meanings: the works were what they were and no more. They broke with tradition radically and paved the way for succeeding generations of artists who no longer felt constrained by the need for composition, allusion or meaning.

This display in Room 20 includes work by Sol LeWitt, Charles Ray, David Shrigley and Jim Lambie.

Next: Michelangelo Pistoletto

 

Ray was part of a wave of artists during the 1970s who addressed sculpture as an activity rather than as an object. In the iconic two-part photographic work 'Plank Piece' the artist documents the use of his own body as the sculptural component. The static photograph belies the performative nature of the activity presented. Contrived through a complex balance between weight and gravity the artist suspended his body using only a plank of wood, creating a minimal, graphic image that is at once humorous and unsettling.

Plank Piece I-II Charles Ray

Open

More on this work
Many of LeWitt's works explore the variations possible within the basic structure of a cube. In this work, each of the five structures occupies the same ground plan. They rise in single steps to a height of five units; the fifth structure is uniformly five units tall. The permutations are simple, clear and logical, and the viewer is invited to follow the mental process and imagine other variations or orders. The apparently straightforward structure of a cube can thus engage the viewer in very close attention and provoke imaginative responses.

Five Modular Structures (Sequential Permutations on the Number Five) Sol LeWitt

Open

More on this work
This sculpture was made by folding and scrunching up a large piece of paper then smoothing it out again and making a cast of it. In so doing, the artist has monumentalised a very ordinary and disposable object by painstakingly making an impression of it in plaster and casting it in fibreglass to create a unique work of art. David Shrigley?s art often uses elements of surprise and humour in a subtle and understated way. The sculpture is displayed on the floor of the gallery, making it look like it has been discarded. The work has a certain sense of pathos, derived from the fact that it represents an unused piece of paper, simultaneously unfulfilled and full of possibilities.

Sculpture of a Piece of Paper David Shrigley

Open

More on this work
In 'Bedhead', the artist uses everyday materials in an unexpected and humorous way. As is the case with many of Lambie's sculptures and installations, the work is made in a meticulous and labour-intensive manner. The repetitive process of sewing hundreds of multi-shaped and multi-coloured buttons onto a mattress recalls the rhythms of contemporary music with which Lambie has been closely involved. The buttons make such a commonplace and everyday object as a mattress sparkle like a prop in a music video.

Bedhead Jim Lambie

Open

More on this work
Share