Joel Shapiro: painted wood

Timothy Taylor Gallery is pleased to exhibit two major new “Untitled” painted wood sculptures by the world-renowned artist Joel Shapiro. Unlike Shapiro’s exhibition of monumental bronzes last year at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (July – October 1999), these works have been commissioned specifically for the new gallery space.
 
The first, a large unpainted kaleidoscopic abstract work of thin beams and rectangular blocks, will occupy the entrance area.  A ten-foot red painted running man will tower in the main gallery accompanied by smaller works, random figures of varying colours finding their place around the walls.
 
Shapiro’s sculptures shift from the abstract to the figurative. They are essentially a geometric assemblage of rectangular boxes joined together to suggest a body or bodies in motion.  Crafted by a master carpenter working in Shapiro’s studio, the individual pieces come together into a unique interpretation of the human form. Painted by the artist in a bright primary colour, chosen to suggest the psychological intention of a particular work, the pieces maintain an intimate and delicate, gravity-defying balance.
 
Shapiro is not interested in the way wood looks.  He goes to great efforts to find wood that isn’t grainy or resembles furniture. Shapiro selects wood that has a reference to utilitarian objects.  His interest lies in the speed with which he can make a form with wood and how it absorbs and affects the colour of the paint. 
 
His finely tuned sense of scale, form and movement propels the sculpture into a continuously shifting engagement with the viewer. This recent work literally and figuratively extends his vocabulary.