Martin Puryear at the Irish Museum of Modern Art

dublin | arts and media | press release Friday January 09, 2004 19:38 by pat c press at modernart dot ie +353 1 612 9900

The first exhibition in Ireland by sculptor Martin Puryear opens to the public at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday 21 January 2004 and continues until 9 May. "Martin Puryear" comprises a selection of characteristically large-scale, enigmatic, semi-abstract sculptures, dating from 1997 to 2001, presented alongside a selection of large, limited-edition prints from 2001 and 2002.

Martin Puryear at the Irish Museum of Modern Art


Martin Puryear uses a vocabulary of simple reductive forms to create works with a strong and direct physical presence. Process and materials are crucial to his work, which is predominantly based around traditional craft techniques of woodworking, furniture making, basketry and boat making. Puryear works primarily in wood, creating meticulously hand-crafted sculptures, which are often painted or combined with manmade material, such as wire and tar.

Puryear’s work often presents dual meanings and contradictions, in both physical form and potential meaning. While essentially abstract, it frequently contains references to organic forms or physical objects - vessels, huts, nets - and demonstrates a striking physical duality appearing both dense and solid and transparent and fragile at the same time.

An extensive knowledge of nature, wildlife, history and geography, as well as an interest in Native American, African, Scandinavian, Japanese and Arctic cultures, have been major influences on Puryear’s visual language.

During the 1960s Puryear learned traditional wood joinery and the use of hand tools while teaching in Sierra Leone in West Africa. In Sweden he studied printmaking and sculpture at the Swedish Royal Academy.

Born in Washington DC in 1941, Martin Puryear, who is an African American, has been creating sculptural works since the mid 1970s. He has exhibited extensively in the US, including one-person shows at the Brooklyn Museum (1988/89) and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (1990). He also represented the USA at the 1989 São Paulo Biennial. Puryear’s sculpture is included in the collections of many of the major American museums including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the National Gallery in Washington.

A catalogue, with an essay by Sune Nordgren, former Director of BALTIC, accompanies the exhibition.
Martin Puryear continues at IMMA until 9 May.

Admission is free.

Opening hours:
Tue _- Sat 10.00am - 5.30pm
Sun and Bank Holidays 12 noon - 5.30pm
Mondays Closed


Irish Museum of Modern Art
Royal Hospital
Military Road
Kilmainham
Dublin 8
Ireland

Phone +353 1 612 9900
Fax +353 1 612 9999
Email [email protected]
Website www.modernart.ie