Minimalism is not easy to get into. Even if you can appreciate beauty in simplicity and purity of form, it’s hard not to be skeptical when you read that a big black rectangle is really a reflection on the nature of our inner and outer selves. The National Gallery’s retrospective of sculptor Martin Puryear’s work, though, woos visitors with displays of graceful shapes and clean lines, without hitting them over the head with lofty, obtuse meanings.
Puryear’s artistic intentions are scattered in words throughout the exhibit, but the D.C. native has acknowledged that “there are a number of levels at which [his] work can be dealt with and appreciated.” The fact that many of his sculptures resemble, but do not represent, recognizable forms makes them thought-provoking but slightly more accessible than the work of old school minimalists like Tony Smith.
Puryear’s prowess as a sculptor is indisputable. The way he magically teases wooden boards into smooth spheres and steel rods into nets that seem to be drifting underwater is almost magical.
His work is closely tied to nature, and much of it plays with the innate characteristics of raw materials like green saplings and rawhide. Heavy Native American influences imbue his earlier work with a sense of organic purity and purpose, though his more recent pieces, which involve many dissimilar elements and materials, lack the simple coherence of their predecessors.
Some of the structures, such as “Desire,” a 16-foot high wheel connected to a woven wood hub, are quite large, and there is a sense that one is seeing them out of context. This is, in fact, the case—many of the pieces on display were created for a specific site, and the small white rooms of the National Gallery cannot do these pieces justice.
The paradox between the physical reality of Puryear’s chosen materials and the visual sensation they produce is undoubtedly the most pleasing aspect of his work. The reactions his sculptures elicit are reason enough to stop by and pay homage to one of the District’s most talented progeny.
The National Gallery of Art is located at 4th Constitution Avenue, NW, accessible by the Yellow and Green lines, National Archive stop. They are open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.
