A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(July 2020) |
Sarah Sze | |
---|---|
Born | 1969 (age 54–55) Boston, Massachusetts, US |
Alma mater | Yale University, BA 1991 School of Visual Arts, MFA 1997 |
Known for | Sculpture |
Spouse | Siddhartha Mukherjee |
Awards | MacArthur Fellow 2003 US Representative for the Venice Biennale 2013 |
Website | sarahsze |
Sarah Sze ( /ˈziː/ ; born 1969) is an American artist and professor of visual arts at Columbia University. [1] Sze's work explores the role of technology, information, and memory with objects in contemporary life utilizing everyday materials. [2] Her work often represents objects caught in suspension. Drawing from Modernist traditions, Sze confronts the relationship between low-value mass-produced objects in high-value institutions, creating the sense that everyday life objects can be art. [3] She has exhibited internationally and her works are in the collections of several major museums.
Sze was born in Boston in 1969. Her father, Chia-Ming Sze, was an architect who moved to the United States from Shanghai at age four and her mother, Judy Mossman, was an Anglo-Scottish-Irish schoolteacher. Sze reports that as a child she would draw constantly. [4] She attended Milton Academy as a day student and graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Architecture and Painting from Yale University in 1991. [5] [6]
Sze's work has been featured in The Whitney Biennial (2000), the Carnegie International (1999) and several international biennials, including Berlin (1998), Guangzhou (2015), Liverpool (2008), Lyon (2009), São Paulo (2002), and Venice (1999, 2013, and 2015). [7]
Sze has created public artworks for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Walker Art Center, and the High Line in New York. [7]
Sze is a 2003 MacArthur Fellow and was granted a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Competition Award in 1999. [8]
In 2013, Sze represented the United States at the Venice Biennale with an exhibition called Triple Point. [9]
On January 1, 2017, a permanent installation commissioned by MTA Arts & Design of drawings by Sze on ceramic tiles opened in the 96th Street subway station on the new Second Avenue Subway line in New York City. [10]
In 2020, Sze unveiled Shorter than the Day , a permanent installation, in LaGuardia Airport [11] [12]
In 2021, Sze unveiled her most recent permanent installation, Fallen Sky, at Storm King Art Center, [13] Cornwall, New York.
For her 2023 exhibition called Timelapse at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Sze created a series of site-specific installations through the Frank Lloyd Wright building. [14]
In 2023, Sze transformed a large Victorian waiting room at Peckham Rye Station in London into an immersive installation called The Waiting Room. Tabish Khan, when reviewing the exhibition for Culture Whisper wrote “this installation fills us with a sense of awe”. [15]
In 2023, Sze was featured in Art21's New York Closeup Series. [16]
Sze has one brother, the venture capitalist David Sze. Sze lives in New York City with her husband Siddhartha Mukherjee and their two daughters. [6] Sze’s great-grandfather, Alfred Sao-ke Sze, was the first Chinese student to go to Cornell University. He was China’s minister to Britain and later ambassador to the United States. Her grandfather is Szeming Sze who was the initiator of World Health Organization.[ citation needed ]
Sze draws from Modernist traditions of the found objects, to build large-scale installations. [17] She uses everyday items like string, Q-tips, photographs, and wire to create complex compositions resembling constellations. [18] This composition gives her work a chaotic yet precise style with the overlap of materials. All objects, regardless of size, [19] are related to one another. This creates a larger meaning in her work as all of the pieces come together to convey a message. By Sze remolding and reshaping these everyday objects, she additionally changes the value of these materials. [20] The incorporation of these "low value" objects rejects the traditional standard that sculptures have to be solid, limited in geometric shapes, and work with specific materials. This can be displayed with Sze's intentional inclusion of the unseen process materials (ladders, clips, wooden poles, etc.) [21] being included in her final work.
Sze throughout her career has pushed the boundaries with sculpture. This can be seen in her using her works to convey movement. Through precise planning and strategic considerations, Sze strives to make the inanimate look animate. [22] Using influences from her formal training in painting and architecture, Sze looks into what one can do with a sculpture that is limited to the two-dimensional. [23] The effect of this is to "challenge the very material of sculpture, the very constitution of sculpture, as a solid form that has to do with finite geometric constitutions, shapes, and content." [24]
Sze additionally takes into consideration the viewer's interaction [25] with her works and the objects she has chosen to display. When selecting materials, Sze focuses on the exploration of value acquisition–what value the object holds and how it is acquired. In an interview with curator Okwui Enwezor, Sze explained that during her conceptualization process, she will "choreograph the experience to create an ebb and flow of information [...] thinking about how people approach, slow down, stop, perceive [her art]." [3]
Sze's work encapsulates how an individual perceives everyday life and their environment. The recording of objects with memory is one of the ways Sze represents this idea. In her works like Timekeeper, Sze Creates a time capsule, [26] allowing her to directly connect with the objects she utilized with the piece to the year. With Sze reconstructing former works, she has the record of what she originally used but now can add new materials, creating an entirely new time capsule. Time itself is a strong theme Sze plays into with the concept of the multiplicity of the unknown. [27] This is created by her works veering off the canvas in multiple directions leads to this theme of the plurality of the unknown. Time and memory in Sze's work can also be seen with the distortion of images throughout time. Sze in her print installations has referenced prior works, relying on memory to reconstruct the former work in her current project. This not only reflects her prior work but also highlights how objects change over time in memory. Sze goes into additional detail about pictures and how this method can be used to retain a sculpture. [28] Sze choice of materials is one of the key factors when taking in her works. The inclusion of these mass-produced objects additionally alludes to domestic life and the feeling of overabundance and growth. [29] Having these daily objects collected, layered, or stacked on one another can be seen in her conveying an overwhelming or cramped space.
By working with sculpture, Sze is conscious of the space not only her work is located but also the space her works create. Sze's spherical work creates the opportunity for viewers to walk inside the work, [30] creating an immersive experience. This choice is made whether or not the audience is aware when they enter the work they are part of the work or not. With Sze's background and upbringing in architecture, she is methodical in how visitors will encounter her work and how a gallery space will shape and form her work. This consideration deepens Sze's contemplation of whether there is a history to tell with the architecture or if it is there to guide the audience. The space Sze creates in her works reflects her choice of objects, creating a relationship with her work and the location where they intertwine. Within the space Sze creates especially with her suspending installation works, there is a feeling with these works of fragility to them. Yet through the deliberate process of aligning every object to one another, there is a strategic method [31] to its fragile look.
With works located in the natural environment, Sze also takes into consideration the context where her work will reside. This can be seen in what she wants her works to not only convey but be of value. With her Storm King Art Center permanent commission, Fallen Sky creates the infusion and disintegration of the extra-terrestrial material to become one with the ground. [32] Other outside installations like Still Life with Landscape take into consideration the natural habitat and include those needs with the structure, creating a seamless interconnection with the composition of the work. [33]
Sze has staged a large number of solo exhibitions and shows across the United States and internationally. Her notable solo exhibitions include White Room (1997), White Columns, New York; [34] Sarah Sze (1999), Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; [35] Sarah Sze: The Triple Point of Water (2003-2004), originating at the Whitney Museum, New York; [36] Triple Point (2013), American pavilion, 55th Venice Biennale; [37] and Sarah Sze: Timelapse (2023), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. [38]
Sze has also participated in a wide array of group exhibitions, including the Berlin Biennale (1998); [39] 48th [40] and 56th Venice Biennale [41] (1999, 2015); Whitney Biennial (2000); [42] and Liverpool Biennial (2008). [43]
Barbara Kruger is an American conceptual artist and collagist associated with the Pictures Generation. She is most known for her collage style that consists of black-and-white photographs, overlaid with declarative captions, stated in white-on-red Futura Bold Oblique or Helvetica Ultra Condensed text. The phrases in her works often include pronouns such as "you", "your", "I", "we", and "they", addressing cultural constructions of power, identity, consumerism, and sexuality. Kruger's artistic mediums include photography, sculpture, graphic design, architecture, as well as video and audio installations.
Kenneth Feingold is a contemporary American artist based in New York City. He has been exhibiting his work in video, drawing, film, sculpture, photography, and installations since 1974. He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship (2004) and a Rockefeller Foundation Media Arts Fellowship (2003) and has taught at Princeton University and Cooper Union for the Advancement of Art and Science, among others. His works have been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, NY; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Tate Liverpool, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others.
Robert Gober is an American sculptor. His work is often related to domestic and familiar objects such as sinks, doors, and legs.
Christian Jankowski is a German contemporary multimedia artist who largely works with video, installation and photography. He lives and works in Berlin and New York.
Rachel Harrison is an American visual artist known for her sculpture, photography, and drawing. Her work often combines handmade forms with found objects or photographs, bringing art history, politics, and pop culture into dialogue with one another. She has been included in numerous exhibitions in Europe and the US, including the Venice Biennale, the Whitney Biennial and the Tate Triennial (2009). Her work is in the collections of major museums such as The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; and Tate Modern, London; among others. She lives and works in New York.
Fred Wilson is an American artist of African-American and Caribbean heritage. He received a BFA from Purchase College, State University of New York. Wilson challenges colonial assumptions on history, culture, and race – encouraging viewers to consider the social and historical narratives that represent the western canon. Wilson received a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" in 1999 and the Larry Aldrich Foundation Award in 2003. Wilson represented the United States at the Biennial Cairo in 1992 and the Venice Biennale in 2003. In May 2008, it was announced that Wilson would become a Whitney Museum trustee replacing Chuck Close.
Rebecca Belmore is a Canadian interdisciplinary Anishinaabekwe artist who is notable for politically conscious and socially aware performance and installation work. She is Ojibwe and a member of Obishikokaang. Belmore currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.
Alfredo Jaar is a Chilean-born artist, architect, photographer and filmmaker who lives in New York City. He is mostly known as an installation artist, often incorporating photography and covering socio-political issues and war—the best known perhaps being the 6-year-long The Rwanda Project about the 1994 Rwandan genocide. He has also made numerous public intervention works, like The Skoghall Konsthall one-day paper museum in Sweden, an early electronic billboard intervention A Logo For America, and The Cloud, a performance project on both sides of the Mexico-USA border. He has been featured on Art:21. He won the Hasselblad Award for 2020.
Mary Kelly is an American conceptual artist, feminist, educator, and writer.
Dawn Kasper is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist working across genres of performance, installation, sculpture, drawing, photography, video, and sound. Her often improvisational work derives from a "fascination with existentialism, subjects of vulnerability, desire, and the construction of meaning." Kasper uses props, costume, comedy, gesture, repetition, music, and monologue to create what she refers to as "living sculptures."
Glenda León is a Cuban artist born in Havana, in 1976.
Mika Rottenberg is a contemporary Argentine born US based video artist who lives and works in New York. Rottenberg is best known for her video and installation work that often "investigates the link between the female body and production mechanisms". Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.
Simone Leigh is an American artist from Chicago who works in New York City in the United States. She works in various media including sculpture, installations, video, performance, and social practice. Leigh has described her work as auto-ethnographic, and her interests include African art and vernacular objects, performance, and feminism. Her work is concerned with the marginalization of women of color and reframes their experience as central to society. Leigh has often said that her work is focused on “Black female subjectivity,” with an interest in complex interplays between various strands of history. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023.
Kimsooja was born in Daegu, South Korea. Kimsooja is a multi-disciplinary conceptual artist who travels between her three homes and places of work in New York City, Paris, and Seoul. In 1980 Kim graduated with a B.F.A in Painting from Hong-Ik University, Seoul and continued to pursue her M.F.A there, obtaining the degree in 1984 at the age of 27. Her origin as a painter was a crucial starting point for the development of her art. That same year, she received a scholarship to study art at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France, where she studied Printmaking. Her first solo exhibition was held in 1988 at Gallery Hyundai, Seoul. Currently, her work is featured in countless international museums and galleries as well as public art fairs and other spaces. Her practice combines performance, film, photo, and site-specific installation using textile, light, and sound. Kimsooja's work investigates questions concerning the conditions of humanity, while engaging issues of aesthetics, culture, politics, and the environment. Her principle of ‘non-doing’ and ‘non-making,’ which follows a conceptual and structural investigation of performance through modes of mobility and immobility, inverts the notion of the artist as the predominant actor.
Jennifer Pastor is an American sculptor and Professor of Visual Arts at the University of California Irvine. Pastor examines issues of space encompassing structure, body and object orientations, imaginary forms, narrative and progressions of sequence.
Anicka Yi is a conceptual artist whose work lies at the intersection of fragrance, cuisine, and science. She is known for installations that engage the senses, especially the sense of smell; and, for her collaborations with biologists and chemists. Yi lives and works in New York City.
Irina Isayevna Nakhova is a Russian artist. Her father, Isai Nakhov, is a philologist. At 14 years old her mother took her to Victor Pivovarov's Atelier. Pivovarov played an important role in her life and later became her mentor. In 2015, Nakhova became the first female artist to represent Russia in its pavilion at the Venice Biennial. She is represented by Nailya Alexander Gallery in New York City. Nakhova currently lives and works in Moscow and New Jersey. She works with different mediums like fine art, photography, sounds, sensors and inflatable materials. She is a Laureate of the Kandinsky 2013 Award.
Alex Da Corte is an American conceptual artist who works across a range of different media, including painting, sculpture, installation, performance, and video. His work explores the nuances of contemporary experience by layering inspirations from varied sources, drawing equally from popular culture and art history.
Adrián Villar Rojas is an Argentinian sculptor known for his elaborate fantastical works which explore notions of the Anthropocene and the end of the world. In his dream like installations he uses aspects of drawing, sculpture, video and music to create immersive situations in which the spectator is confronted with ideas and images of their imminent extinction.
Sable Elyse Smith is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and educator based in New York. Smith works in photography, neon, text, appropriated imagery, sculpture, and video installation connecting language, violence, and pop culture with autobiographical subject matter. In 2018, Smith was an Artist-in Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Her work was first featured at several areas such as MoMA ps1, New Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Philadelphia, MIT list visual arts center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and other places. The artist lives and works in Richmond, Virginia, and New York City. She has been an assistant professor of Visual Arts at Columbia University since 2020.