Wednesday Artist: Martin Puryear

My work has a potential for evolution and change 

and open-endedness, which to me feels resonant 

with what it is to live a life.

~ Martin Puryear

Today's Wednesday Artist column takes a look at the making of sculptor Martin Puryear's remarkable Big Bling (2016), on view in New York City's Madison Square Park through January 8, 2017. In May 2017, the sculpture will be on exhibit for six months at the Association for Public Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Read the details about that installation.)

The public outdoor sculpture, the largest Puryear has created to date, is 40 feet tall; its materials include wood and chain link fencing, as well as fiberglass and a gold shackle. Puryear worked with a group of experts including a specialty lumber manufacturer to execute his design.

My thanks to Art21 for the video.

Martin Puryear at Matthew Marks Gallery, Art21, Guggenheim Museum, John Berggruen Gallery, Oliver Ranch Foundation

Puryear's work currently may be seen in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's exhibition "Martin Puryear: Multiple Dimensions", continuing through September 5. View the online art gallery for the show. On August 4, SAAM sculpture curator Karen Lemmey and GSA fine arts specialist Bill Caine are scheduled to give a Gallery Talk at 5:30 p.m., about Puryear's Bearing Witness (1994). An exhibition catalogue is available.