{"id":5961,"date":"2021-08-02T17:20:41","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T08:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/?post_type=insights&p=5961"},"modified":"2021-08-14T14:06:45","modified_gmt":"2021-08-14T05:06:45","slug":"joel-shapiro","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/insights\/5961","title":{"rendered":"Joel Shapiro"},"content":{"rendered":"

2021.7.22 – 9.11
\nJoel Shapiro<\/p>\n

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Joel Shapiro, Untitled, 2019 \u00a9 Joel Shapiro \/ 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seoul \u2013 Pace is pleased to present an exhibition of Joel Shapiro\u2019s sculptures at the gallery\u2019s recently expanded space in Seoul. Spanning two floors of the gallery, the presentation spotlights a selection of the artist\u2019s bronze works alongside smaller-scale, vibrantly colored sculptures made of wood.<\/p>\n

The exhibition, which features nine new works and a selection of sculptures dating back to the mid-1990s, showcases the American sculptor\u2019s longstanding investigations of color, form, and movement. With its inclusion of two freestanding wood figures, a selection of wall-attaching sculptures, and both large and small cast bronzes, the show traces the artist\u2019s investigations of different materials and processes. The presentation examines not only Shapiro\u2019s interest in exploring\u2014and occasionally erasing\u2014the line between abstraction and figuration, but also his preoccupation with engaging and energizing space and architecture.<\/p>\n

On the gallery\u2019s second floor, an installation of smaller-scale sculptures foregrounds Shapiro\u2019s use of color to animate and energize his works. \u201cEmotional color is what interests me,\u201d Shapiro said in a 2001 interview coinciding with a solo exhibition of his drawings and sculptures at PaceWildenstein in New York. Utilizing bright, mostly primary colors in the sculptures exhibited in this installation, Shapiro imbues his works with a sense of buoyancy and elation. Wooden sculptures painted in varying blue, red, and yellow tones, as well as bronze works in varying finishes\u2014mounted on plinths and the gallery\u2019s walls in different orientations\u2014create an elegant, seemingly choreographed sense of motion throughout the gallery space.<\/p>\n

The third floor features three freestanding bronze sculptures displayed together as well as a blue painted bronze work from 2019 situated on the adjacent outdoor terrace. Upon entering the gallery, one is greeted by a dazzling bronze work from 2006\u201307 whose shimmering surface further dynamizes the work\u2019s churning, rectilinear forms. This work\u2019s densely compacted energy finds its complement and efflorescence in the taller, more ambulatory bronzes nearby. A 1995 cast bronze sculpture is the oldest and largest sculpture in the exhibition. Its pose, which might suggest a figure with outstretched arms, presages smaller-scale bronze works dating to this year on view in the second floor installation. Echoes of form and gesture can also be traced between the 1995 work and the sculpture from 2007\u201308, whose elongated limbs and flailing form seem to embody, as poet Peter Cole writes in his 2014 Pace catalogue essay on Shapiro, \u201cthat feeling of precarious poise, the sensation that one is, at the same time stumbling and being uplifted.\u201d<\/p>\n

As evinced by the blue painted sculpture installed on the gallery\u2019s terrace, as well as the unpainted sculptures on the third and second floors, Shapiro\u2019s bronze works often retain the qualities and characteristics of the wood patterns and forms from which they were cast, making the artist\u2019s process visible and ever-present in the work. In a catalogue essay accompanying Shapiro\u2019s 2018\u201319 solo exhibition at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin\u2014organized by the institution\u2019s erstwhile director Stephen Fleischman\u2014curator Peter Boswell writes that \u201cthe evidence of wood grain and saw cuts in Shapiro\u2019s rectangular elements evokes heavy timbers, impressing upon us a sense of their weight and making their suspension aloft seem all the more unlikely. The woodiness of Shapiro\u2019s bronze elements is also important for its reference to his working process, and it contributes to his sculptures\u2019 sense of immediacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Joel Shapiro, Pace Gallery, Seoul, 2021 Photo by Sangtae Kim \u00a9 Joel Shapiro \/ Courtesy Pace Gallery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an interview with the art historian Thierry Dufr\u00eane in 2005, when he presented the exhibition Correspondances: Joel Shapiro\/Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux at the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay, Paris, Shapiro shared of his sculptures: \u201cI like injecting life into the inanimate: using stone or wood to express life.\u201d The works on view in his latest exhibition collectively highlight Shapiro\u2019s enduring exploration of the dynamic possibilities of sculpture, rendered through distinct yet interconnected formal compositions. This interplay has been central to the artist\u2019s practice over the course of his storied career.<\/p>\n

\u201cShapiro\u2019s sculptures generate emotion-inducing images like those we encounter through novels, a parallel form of figuration,\u201d the art historian Richard Shiff wrote on the occasion of Shapiro\u2019s 2007\u201308 solo exhibition with PaceWildenstein in New York. \u201cFictions or figured things expand people\u2019s consciousness, the range of their feelings, and their awareness of their feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

PACE
\n2\/3F, 267 Itaewon-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea
\n+82 070 7708 6656<\/p>\n

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