Material Terrain: Contemporary Sculpture in Landscape

“‘Material Terrain: A Sculptural Exploration of Landscape and Place’ consists of 26 works by 11 sculptors, all focused on trying to help us appreciate our place in the natural world.”

– Dr. Tom Mack, Aiken Standard

“In addition to offering different takes on the nature-artifice dichotomy, the pieces show the subtle complexity and multiple layers of interpretation that distinguish artists of this level.”

– David Maddox, Nashville Scene

Material Terrain: Contemporary Sculpture in Landscape comprises approximately 20 public-scale works by ten different artists using various mixed media (ceramic, metal, wire, cast beeswax, copper, etc.) for indoor or outdoor display. The artists represented include Michele Brody, Kendall Buster, Ming Fay, Donald Lipski, Dennis Oppenheim, Roxy Paine, Wendy Ross, John Ruppert, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Valeska Soares, and James Surles.

The exhibition explores the theme of landscape—a place where the natural world meets representations of itself. A malleable raw material, landscape may be constructed as an object of fantasy, nostalgia, or desire. The selected artists explore the complex relationships between the manmade and natural worlds. They probe into the myriad associations to the land in the human imagination, including the myth of garden as paradise, or of nature as a place of retreat and wonder as well as an entity to be conquered. These diverse affiliations to landscape and place expose the multiple partnerships and suggest the variety of ways in which we view ourselves in the context of nature. Many of the selected artists recognize the magical qualities of nature that allow for heightened states of consciousness in which beauty, as well as the sublime, may be witnessed in the terrain.

This exhibition was curated by Carla Hanzal, Curator of Contemporary Art of the Mint Museums in Charlotte, NC, and organized by International Arts & Artists.

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