Martin Puryear Author:Margo A. Crutchfield "Amidst the continually shifting postmodernist landscape, Martin Puryear has maintained a constant and singular vision: unafraid of beauty, the well-made object, and the viability of meaning in art and in our world, he is without question one of America's preeminent sculptors."--from the Introduction Puryear has always stood apart, outside the p... more »revailing trends in the contemporary art world. Since the mid-1970s he has created an outstanding body of sculpture that builds on the tradition of organic abstraction. Carrying this tradition forward, Puryear incorporates a minimalist simplicity of form and an emphasis on process and materials that aligns him with post-minimalist sculptors. His approach to making sculpture is based in traditional craft techniques. Rather than carving or casting, his primary interest is in building, constructing, and assembling--using accumulative processes such as wrapping, tying, and weaving, or lamination and joinery. This catalogue focuses on a selection of works from the 1990s through the end of 2000, most of them marked by increasing assertiveness, scale, and volume. To encounter Martin Puryear's sculptures is to experience a world of powerful yet richly ambiguous objects.« less