YADDO IS HONORING one of its own. The third annual Yaddo Artist Medal will be presented to sculptor Martin Puryear (above), who has deep connections with the artist community. The medal “recognizes individuals who have sustained a high level of achievement in their artistic discipline and reinforced the sense of community that is central to Yaddo’s residency program.”
Over the past half century, Puryear has established a unique sculptural practice handmaking modernist abstract works that are inspired by nature and draw on a range of cultures, histories and motifs. His innovative works are defined by experimentation with scale, form and materials, including wood, stone, tar, bronze, and wire.
Founded in 1900, Yaddo is a 400-acre artist community in Sarasota Springs, N.Y. Puryear has been associated with Yaddo in a variety of capacities over the years. He was an artist-in-residence in 1979 and served on Yaddo’s board from 1982 to 1991. He chaired visual arts admission panels and also taught Terry Adkins (1953-2014), a Yaddo artist.
PURYEAR’S SCULPTURES OFTEN BEGIN WITH sketches and drawings. The Art Institute of Chicago has organized, “Multiple Dimensions,” the first-ever exhibition of his works on paper. After opening last year at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York, the show is currently on view in Chicago through May 1. It travels next to the Smithsonian (May 27-Sept. 5, 2016).
Next month, “Big Bling,” a major pubic art commission will debut in Madison Square Park. Described as “part animal form, part abstract sculpture, and part intellectual meditation,” the work is the largest temporary outdoor sculpture ever created by Puryear.
Born in Washington, D.C., Puryear lives and works in the Hudson Vally, N.Y., area. President Barack Obama presented him with a 2011 National Medal of the Arts.
Recently established, only two other artists have received the Yaddo Artist Medal. In 2014, author Phillip Roth was the first recipient and Laurie Anderson, a performance artist and musician, was recognized in 2015. Puryear is being honored on May 18. CT
TOP IMAGE: Screen Grab from “Martin Puryear: Printmaking | ART21 “Exclusive.”
BOOKSHELF
Featuring contributions by Mark Pascale, a professor at the School of Art Institute Chicago, and Ruth Fine, a former curator at the National Gallery of Art where she curated an exhibition of Puryear’s work in 2008, the catalog “Martin Puryear: Multiple Dimensions” was published to coincide with the exhibition currently on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
THE FOLLOWING WORKS by Martin Puryear are featured in his current exhibition “Multiple Dimensions”:
MARTIN PURYEAR, “Face Down,” 2008 (white bronze). | Courtesy of the Artist. © Martin Puryear, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery. Photography by Jamie Stukenberg, Professional Graphics.
MARTIN PURYEAR, “Vessel,” 1997-2002 (eastern white pine, mesh, tar). | © Martin Puryear, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery.
MARTIN PURYEAR “Drawing for Maroon,” 1986/88 (black Conté crayon, with smudging, over graphite, on ivory wove paper). | Courtesy of the artist. © Martin Puryear, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery.
MARTIN PURYEAR, “Bower,” 1980 (sitka spruce and pine}. | Smithsonian American Art Museum, © Martin Puryear, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery.
MARTIN PURYEAR. “Untitled (LA MoCA portfolio),” 1999 (hard and soft ground etching and aquatint, on cream Japanese paper, laid down on white wove paper-chine collé). | The Art Institute of Chicago, restricted gift of Kaye and Howard Haas, 2007.88. © Martin Puryear
MARTIN PURYEAR, “Phrygian,” 2012 (soft ground etching, spit bite, drypoint, and aquatint in black and gray on cream wove paper, laid down on white wove paper-chine collé). | Smithsonian American Art Museum. © Martin Puryear. Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery.
Institute of Chicago, restricted gift of Kaye and Howard Haas, 2007.88. © Martin Puryear
MARTIN PURYEAR, “Drawing for Untitled,” circa 2009 (compressed charcoal on ivory wove paper). | Courtesy of the Artist. © Martin Puryear, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery.
