Installations

Petah Coyne

Untitled #788, #790, #795, #796, #799, #800, #804

1993 – 1995

Wax, candles, steel, wire, silk flowers, and ribbons
dimensions variable

(b. 1953 — Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) Petah Coyne was commissioned to create a sculptural installation for the stairwell in the Wintergarden. A mesmerizing wonderland envelops the space. Reminiscent of a haunted ballroom, the stairwell is filled with sculptures comprised of white and pastel-tinted wax drippings over arrangements of ribbons, lace, flowers, and other debris. The shapes float somewhere between abstraction and figuration. Images of wedding gowns and cakes, church bells, birdcages, ballerina uniforms, and bonnets are conjured up. These heavily encrusted, extinguished candles resembling wax chandeliers are unabashedly seductive. They are at once massive and yet delicate. “It evokes all the clichés of ‘true romance’—bouquets of roses, songbirds, ballet skirts, trailing ribbons, and towering wedding cakes, all turned ghostly by pale layers of wax.”

Coyne uses as many as 75 layers of specially formulated wax over armatures so that the works are durable and resistant to changes in temperature while appearing malleable and flexible. The chains from which the sculptures are suspended are covered in elegant white satin. A visual drama of almost operatic proportions unfolds. The viewer is compelled to question these extravagant sculptures resulting in innumerable interpretations. “Coyne has tapped into powerful ambiguities in which unease and enchantment are linked, much as they are in fairy tales.” At times, the work is viewed as celebratory and has the appearance of “madly joyous wedding chimes.” Yet, one writer states, “The celebration is over (the candles are put out), or perhaps the preparations were made yet it never happened; we are left with a haunting but unspecified sense of loss.” What is most clear is that these sculptures, with their telling belabored execution, are the result of the artist's devout understanding and love of materials.

Coyne has had solo exhibitions at: The Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Ohio; Sculpture Center, New York; Southeastern Massachusetts University, Massachusetts, and had an installation in the Grand Lobby at the Brooklyn Museum, New York. She has been included in group exhibitions at galleries and arts institutions worldwide. Coyne is the recipient of numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Award and Fellowship. Her work is included in the collections of Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, California; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Brooklyn Museum, New York, among others.

Vik Muniz

Cleveland Clouds

1994

fiberglass sculptures
dimensions variable

(b. 1961 — Sao Paulo, Brazil) In 1994, Progressive commissioned Vik Muniz to create a site-specific piece for this monumental atrium. A grouping of fiberglass, cloud-like formations ensued. They appear quite fitting since weather and constant change are appropriate themes for both the insurance business and Cleveland.

The artist was inspired by Alfred Steiglitz, one of the foremost photographers of the early 20th century who produced photographs of clouds called “Equivalents.” “They are clouds as such, not adjuncts to a broader scene, not to convey the picture of a cloudy day.” Steiglitz explained that “the true meaning of the ‘Equivalents’ ... comes through directly, without any extraneous or distracting pictorial or representational factors coming between the person and the picture.”

Muniz loves crafty, visual puzzles which hark back to Marcel Duchamp. He likes to toy with our perception of reality. The fiberglass sculptures suggest different forms which Muniz imbues with a sense of humor. “Apart from all their heavenly attributes, clouds generally perform in the pictorial apparatus more as a vehicle for transcendence. This may come from the simple fact that a cloud can look like anything but very few things actually look like clouds.”

Muniz also created four photographs printed in luscious sepia tones of the platinum process to complement the installation. He superimposed images of the cloud-like sculptures over Cleveland vistas and corporate skylines. The photographs have an out-of-focus quality because Muniz made paintings from photographs and then photographed the paintings, again playing with our sense of perception. They establish a mood of intrigue and the viewer gets the sense of fleeting moments frozen in time.

Muniz studied art in Sao Paulo, Brazil, before moving to New York City. He has been exhibiting his work internationally since 1988. His work was included in “The Encompassing Eye, Photography as Drawing,” University of Akron, Ohio; “Small Medium Large Life Size,” Museo D'Arte Contemporanea Prato, Italy; and “Multiples,” The Aldrich Museum of Art, Connecticut.

Beverly Semmes

Rhonda Lavonda Yolanda Chiffonda

1995

organza and crushed velvet
32 feet long (each)

(b. 1958 — Washington, D.C.) This site-specific installation by artist Beverly Semmes was commissioned by Progressive in 1995. The artwork consists of four enlarged velvet and organza dresses. The artist has deliberately used colors that would put your teeth on edge. Each one, installed on the large brick wall, cascades downward 32 feet. The overall effect is sensuous as the fabric appears to float on the stark white backdrop. These elongated forms seem to allude to the humanizing and animation of everyday objects and causes us to consider the women who might occupy these pieces of attire. As the artist states, “Like a perfect size 6,000, the work is a link between the viewer's body and massive architecture ... This piece is a visual and tactile talisman of female form both ideal and gigantic.”

“In classical art the figure was the prototype for all proportion and measurement ... clothes not only cover but are a substitute for the physical body.” Semmes distorts the proportions of standard clothing sizes, causing the work to look elongated and exaggerated. What results is a formal study of pattern, texture, and color on a monumental scale. This strategy has been used by artists working in the tradition of surrealism and pop art. Semmes’ art also examines female stereotypes and issues of identity and gender.

Semmes received an MFA in sculpture from the Yale School of Art, New Haven, Connecticut. She has had solo exhibitions at: Centro per l'arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy; Camden Arts Centre, London, England; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; The Sculpture Center, New York; and “Special Projects” at The Institute for Contemporary Art, PS1 Museum, Long Island City, New York. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions such as “American Art Today: Clothing as a Metaphor,” The Art Museum, Florida International University Museum, Miami, Florida, and “First Sightings,” Denver Art Museum, both in 1993. Semmes has also designed sets for the Mathilde Monnier Dance Company of Montpellier, France, and is the recipient of many awards.

Jon Kessler

Hall of Birds

1995 – 1996

painted aluminum
dimensions variable

(b. 1957 — Yonkers, New York) This is the first commission and the first architecturally based installation Jon Kessler has ever done. “Hall of Birds” was created with the idea of transforming the atrium into a huge aviary. The artist saw the atrium as a meeting place where one might say, “I'll meet you at the hall of birds at 6 p.m. and we'll catch a ride home together.” The design of the five birds are based on the Japanese art of folded paper, called “origami” and are actually made of sheets of aluminum. Kessler states, “I've always had an interest in Oriental art. I've used origami before and Ikebana, which is flower arranging. I've used Chinese gardens and pagodas, so in a way it is certainly in the lineage with the rest of my work.” Kessler provided the fabricators with a cardboard model to illustrate what he wanted. The coordinates of each unfolded bird were then plotted on a computer and cut by laser. The 25 aluminum grids on the wall create a visual and conceptual backdrop for the birds and are meant to evoke abstracted birdcages.

Kessler was interested in the birds being very different from one another and each having their own personality. The scale of the birds is an important factor in the way that the installation works. That they are larger than human scale was crucial to them occupying and invading the space aggressively. This added to the predatory nature of the birds. The birds function three-dimensionally and they change dramatically as you view them from different angles. At one point or another their similarity to birds disappears as they become completely abstract shapes. Although the atrium is a difficult space it awards the viewer with many vantage points and the installation can also be viewed from all four levels.

Kessler is best known for his innovative use of materials. It’s through this that he is able to draw the viewer in and continually fascinate. One critic explains, “Kessler's work demonstrates the fun and enthusiasm of its own creation: record players, plastic flowers, toy garages, a rubber clown, a fish, Buddhas, a refrigerator, a music box are used to make machines to be watched and stimulate fantasy. Theatrical effects, light, movement and music heighten its entertainment value.” Most often there is a mechanical/moving element which lends a playful and accessible feel to the art.

Kessler attended the State University of New York at Purchase and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. He has participated in many individual and group exhibitions throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan, including the “International Survey of Recent Paintings and Sculpture” at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1984; The Whitney Museum Biennial, New York, in 1985; and solo exhibitions at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1997, and The Spiral Garden, Tokyo in 1992. His work can be found in museum collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; and Whitney Museum, New York.

James Hyde

Rise

1993

fresco on Styrofoam
6 feet x 10.5 feet x 4 feet (each)

(b. 1958 — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Progressive commissioned this site-specific work in 1993 for the monumental 80-foot atrium in the Campus I East Building. Toby Lewis, former curator of the Progressive Art Collection, had been following Hyde's career since 1985 and knew him to be an exciting, intelligent painter.

The artist has suspended four monochromatic fresco paintings on Styrofoam from the brick wall. The physicality of these structures contributes to the overall effect which is awesome and engaging. Vibrant, saturated color pigment illuminates the stark space while the materials used add an element of whimsy and humor. Hyde explores the subtle relationships between space, volume, and color.

The emphasis on materials has always been an integral part of Hyde's art. He systematically experiments with the mechanics of painting and pushes painting to its outer limits. As a result, his use of Styrofoam with fresco painting did not come as a surprise. Hyde covered the Styrofoam with layers of plaster which add to the tactility of the works, their very texture enticing the viewer. The edges of the surface are uneven, hinting at the large amount of physical labor involved in their creation.

Hyde was a perfect candidate for this difficult space because he’s also a problem solver. This difficult but exciting commission seemed made for him—he knew how to activate the space. Hyde is interested in “architectural space and the effect of proportion, and he has the tenacity to explore this subject with intense precision ... to such a successful degree that the space is activated, almost animated.” It is as if the work creates a new spatial ordering. “Rise” is illusive, both weighty and weightless, complete and fragmentary. The Styrofoam “chunks” at first could be mistaken for archeological ruins left over from a dig. When the material is exposed to the viewer they become almost weightless as if floating and rising upward. Hyde also retains the rectangle as the constant of his paintings: it is his signature.

Jim Hyde studied art and archeology at the University of Rochester. He has been exhibiting his work since the early 1980s and has had solo exhibitions at galleries worldwide. His work has been included in group exhibitions such as “Re-Framing Cartoons,” Wexner Center For The Arts, Ohio, and “International Biennial of Paper Art,” Leopold-Hoesch Museum, Duren, Germany, which traveled to Denmark, Japan, and Canada. Hyde's work is in the collections of: The Brooklyn Museum, New York; Allen Memorial Art Museum, Ohio; and Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, New York. Progressive owns six other works by Hyde.

Larry Bell

Sumer #12, The Watcher

1996

cast bronze
36 feet x 24 feet x 26 feet

(b. 1939 — Chicago, Illinois) The two monumental outdoor sculptures, “Sumer #1” and “Sumer #12” (also known as “The Watcher” and “Watching the Watcher”), comprise a very rich chapter in the history of the Progressive Art Collection. Both enormous bronzes were initially commissioned by Peter Lewis in the mid-1990s, and were intended to be integrated into an adventurous plan for a new home that Mr. Lewis was working on in partnership with the renowned architect Frank Ghery. Eventually, the new home development was tabled, and Peter Lewis relocated Larry Bell's sculptures to the grounds of Progressive's Campus I in Mayfield Village.

For the making of “The Watchers,” Larry Bell began with a digital sketching application originally developed by the U.S. Air Force. The two-dimensional renderings are very gestural and expressive—qualities that beautifully carry over into the three-dimensional versions. “The bronze forms have the jittery, uneven quality of drawn lines, thickening at junctions and ends of appendages, as would an ink stroke,” says art writer Eleanor Heartney. At once both arrestingly bold and quietly delicate, the works are like giant drawings in space. And, since their installation in 1997 (celebrating Progressive's 60th anniversary), these works have been heralded as a wonderful addition to the visual landscape at Campus I.

The nickname “Watchers” came about as a result of the artist being inspired by one of the earliest known works of literary writing, “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” believed by researchers to be a compendium of Sumerian legends and poems about the mythological hero-king Gilgamesh. Interestingly, Bell wrote his own account of this ancient civilization, as summarized by writer, Wesley Pulkka: “Bell wrote a fictional history of an ancient Sumerian city that required the presence of a watcher who oversaw public recreational and dance functions and an observer who oversaw the actions of the watcher. The observer and the watcher were seen as cultural shadows that kept the populace honest. The clandestine observer made sure that the watcher did his job of maintaining the integrity of public rituals” (from Albuquerque's Sunday Journal, Jan. 9, 2000).

Peter Lewis originally championed the sculptures as a reminder that we watch out for our customers, and in return, the customer is always watching. The sculptures have taken on increased symbolic meaning over the years for being emblematic of our commitment to self-awareness, self-criticism, and ethical business practices.

Charles Long

Hold on Hope

2000

silicon rubber, plywood, foam
dimensions variable

(b. 1958 — Long Branch, New Jersey) Charles Long is a sculptor who uses a vocabulary of abstract forms to elicit empathy between the viewer and his work. Long states, “I build tension into my work through the repression of two things: language and the explicit representation of the body; I like to keep them contained within the forms.” While his blobs are not identifiable, they have an engaging presence. In this project, Long's blobs are subject to the same gravitational effects as are people. He feels that this gives his abstract reality a foothold in the real world where support and the lack thereof tell the story of life's ups and downs.

The shelf projects have developed as a body of work since his 1996 exhibition titled “Our Bodies, Our Shelves.” “Hold on Hope,” commissioned by Progressive in 1999, is his largest shelf project to date and was created specifically for this space. The title is borrowed from a song of the same name by the Ohio-based post-punk band Guided By Voices. The song, from the album “Do the Collapse,” is filled with fragments of mysterious images and conjures up the idea of holding on despite life's unpredictability, be it the disappointment of loss, the turbulence of success, or its periods of barrenness. Long's abstract narrative incorporates these themes.

Long sees the basic shelf with blob as an ideogram of the self in which the brackets holding onto the wall are the feet and legs, while the mantle with its extensions is the body and arms. The blob of this shelf/self-construction can be seen as both the desiring mind and the searching soul. It can sit squarely on the shoulders of the self/shelf or lend itself out to other supporting selves/shelves, risking dependency, neglect, and abandonment. Even the shelves have their moments of redundancy, failure, and endurance.

If this piece has a center, it’s the profusion of red and yellow blobs that follow a passage of barren blue green shelves, perhaps an example of the fickleness of fate. Long describes this pendulous cluster which drapes down into the viewer's space as the “animal mother,” one of the image fragments taken from the song “Hold on Hope.” The supple silicone rubber in which these forms are cast is a “food grade” silicone rubber, the same kind used for baby bottle nipples and silicone implants. The rubber's flexibility evokes both a childlike playfulness and a sensuousness, while the round shapes evoke both the male and female anatomy.

Long punctuated both ends of the installation with blobs that are separated from the whole. They have asserted their autonomy and rest on the architecture of the building, suggesting quotation marks or perhaps birth and death. Another distinct feature is the spooning blob couple in the center of the short wall, which is the only place in the work where two blobs meet and rest. While Long has offered many interpretations of the artwork's features, he encourages the viewers to be imaginative and invent their own narratives. Through material and form, Long hopes to jostle the life stories of our unconscious and to exploit our freedom to endlessly interpret them.

Long received a BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art, Pennsylvania, in 1981. He participated in the Whitney Independent Study Program, New York, in 1981, and he earned an MFA from Yale University, Connecticut, in 1988. Long is the recipient of several grants including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant. He currently teaches in the Sculpture Department at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Long has exhibited his work in the United States as well as France, Italy, Belgium, and Brazil.

Brigitte Nahon

Dancing Reeds

2002

stainless steel and polycarbonate
dimensions variable

(b. 1960 — Nice, France) The artist's first commissioned, permanent installation in the United States, “Dancing Reeds” is a sculpture about rhythm, balance, and movement. In preparation for creating this site-specific work, Nahon carefully studied the entry to the campus, perceiving it as a transitional space, where the moment between interior and exterior space is suspended. Captivated by this sense of transition, she aimed to amplify it by creating dialogues between nature and city, between architecture and sculpture, and between individuals. She was inspired by the undulating wall of the corridor that connects the Trees building with the rest of the campus and allows people to see the trees and grass and the walking path outside. The general shape of the sculpture actually follows the shape of the wavy wall, with sections of convex and concave reeds. States Nahon, “Through my sculpture, I hope to make the viewer sense space in a different way; feel a different harmony with the universe and with his or her own world. By freeing the senses one can push the limits of perception and rediscover one's environment and oneself.”

Nahon intended for the reeds to echo and interact with the line patterns of the brick wall, of the window frames, and even of the rays of sunlight that flood the space. The bubbles, made of polycarbonate, reflect the birds, planes, and clouds of the exterior landscape. The artist likens the reeds to blades of grass and the bubbles to drops of dew. The sculpture undulates, climbing and moving further away from the wall, giving the feeling that it may eventually fly up and out. Despite this constant sense of motion, there’s also a feeling of peace in the space generated by the “breathing” of the reeds.

Nahon is very interested in the conflict between her materials and the effect they create. Even though each stainless-steel reed is firmly affixed to the wall, they are meant to dance freely in the space. She chose a mirror finish, which, combined with the green lights and reflections created by the curves and bends in the steel, make for a dynamic, luminous effect. The lighting on the mirror-finished steel makes it feel almost transparent; more like glass than steel. She defies gravity to create “dancing” elements made from steel. Ultimately, the sculpture captures the energies of its surroundings, including people, plants, architecture, and even the sky above. It’s completed by the presence of people and movement and thus integrally linked to its location.

Nahon attended the Sorbonne, Paris, and she earned an MFA from the Universite de Provence, Aix-en-Provence. She has exhibited her work throughout Europe and in the U.S. since 1985 and has completed several permanent installations in France, including public commissions for the Ministere de la Culture and the Electricite de France. She had a solo exhibition in 2002 at the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, and an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary and Modern Art, Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2002.

Christina De Paul

Solitude for the Imagination

1999 – 2001

anodized aluminum
dimensions variable

(b. 1959 — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) De Paul is a sculptor who works with metal, often in large-scale installations which engage the surrounding architecture. Progressive commissioned De Paul in 1999 to create a sculptural installation for this space, which she completed in 2001. “Solitude for the Imagination” is composed of anodized aluminum “twigs” hanging from stainless steel cables, along with a 20-foot chair fabricated out of aluminum and a small shelf, also aluminum.

De Paul discusses her inspiration for activating the corner of this stairwell: “The French philosopher Gaston Bachelard, in his book 'Poetics of Space,' speaks of a corner as a haven that insures us immobility; a sort of half-box, part walls, part door. Being in one's own corner brings a peace that allows the imagination to escape its ordinary bounds. This installation is a reverie from childhood. I was sometimes sent to the corner as a school child. But instead of suffering shame in front of my classmates, I found in the corner a solace and a refuge. Indeed, on occasion I purposely misbehaved so as to experience the comfort and make believe world of my corner; there, I felt as though I was sitting in a magical chair in an enchanted corner. I believe we all have psychological and physical corners in our lives to which we escape and permit our imaginations to fly.”

De Paul earned her BFA at Carnegie Mellon University, Pennsylvania, and her MFA from the Tyler School of Art. She served as director of the Meyers School of Art at the University of Akron and is currently the dean of the Corcoran College of Art and Design. Her work was included in the “Urban Evidence” exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1996, and she has exhibited her work extensively in Ohio as well as throughout the U.S.

Felice Varini

Twelve Disks Over Sixteen Hollowed Halves and Four Quarters

2013

mixed media
dimensions variable

(b. 1952 — Locarno, Switzerland) In December 2013, Progressive welcomed the Swiss artist Felice Varini to its corporate headquarters. Stepping into the precise point of view from which Varini conceived the painting, a beautiful pattern of hollowed discs magically appears. The pattern appears to the viewer’s eyes like a transparent overlay of color, as if it’s hanging in the air above a highly trafficked cafeteria area. This engagement between the viewer, the space, and the painting is central to Varini’s work.

However, when viewed outside of the artist’s original eyeline, a different story is told. From almost all angles, abstract shapes sporadically cover the space. The pattern folds and twists on the space’s ceiling, beams, and windows, creating a unique engagement with the environment. Viewers have the experience of walking up to the painting and then through it, outside of it, and behind it. Varini is as interested in what happens outside the point of view as much as the “engaged” view.

Andy Yoder

Rebus

1971

porcelain
50 feet x 26 feet x 7 feet

(b. 1957 — Cleveland, Ohio) Andy Yoder's work examines objects from everyday life. Humor, whimsy, and irony are the constants that prevail in his work. One critic writes, “Intrigued by the practice of formal manners, the passion for antiques and the psychological role furnishings play in people's lives, artist Andy Yoder recasts remnants of that culture into domestic icons.”

In 1997, he was commissioned to create a site-specific work for the Wintergarden dining area, comprised of porcelain ceramics. All these pieces together form a rebus, which is a puzzle where words or syllables are represented by pictures. This saying actually comes from an Arabic proverb.

Yoder arrived at the idea for the commission as a result of the specific parameters he had to work within. The first was consideration of the site. The artwork needed to be installed on the wall, but couldn't be under glass because of reflection from windows. That ruled out framed works on paper, but anything sculptural couldn't project too far from the wall, and had to be made from a material that wouldn't fade in the sun.

Yoder's inspiration for the work came from various sources. One was his memories of his grandmother's willow-ware, and how each plate or dish told a story. They not only illustrated the story in the images, but the story of how each piece was collected and where it had been. In another home, he recollected being struck by a series of annually collected blue and white plates, arranged on a shelf running around the dining room. The traditional feel of the plates was a sharp contrast to the contemporary design of the home, but one which made sense to the artist.

Andy's choice of material occurred during a residency at the Kohler factory in Wisconsin. Yoder borrowed a set of ceramic molds for restaurant china, and made a set of blue and white dishes for his home. He explained that it was great to be able to plug the deep satisfaction of making them, using them, and seeing them displayed on shelves into a permanent artwork. Finally, because this is an employee cafeteria, he wanted to do a piece that related to food and/or eating, and was “user friendly.”

In discussing his work, Yoder explains, ”Home is a place not only of comfort but of control. This sense of order, in whatever form it takes, acts as a shield against the unpredictability and lurking chaos of the outside world. My work is an examination of the different forms this shield takes, and the thinking that lies behind it. I use domestic objects as the common denominators of our personal environment. Altering them is a way of questioning the attitudes, fears and unwritten rules which have formed that environment and our behavior within it.”

Yoder was born in Cleveland in 1957 and received a BFA in sculpture from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1982. He has exhibited widely since 1981, including solo shows at The Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art and the Sculpture Center, New York, and has been included in group shows in Germany, California, and Massachusetts.

Jennifer Steinkamp

Dervish 9

2004

digital video projection
12 feet x 16 feet

(b. 1958 — Denver, Colorado) Steinkamp is a new media artist who creates computer animation projections to explore ideas about architectural space, motion, and phenomenological perception. Her digitally animated works make use of the interplay between actual space and illusionistic space, thus creating environments in which the roles of the viewing subjects and the art objects become blurred. The artist’s ultimate intention is to, as she states, “dematerialize architecture by combining light, space, and movement.”

“Dervish 9” was inspired by a ritual practiced by the priests, or dervishes, of the Mevlavi sect of Islam. In the midst of a trance, the dervishes whirl in a motion symbolizing the soul’s release from earthly ties and communication with the divine. The trees reflect this ritualistic movement through the rhythmic and stylized swaying and swiveling of the branches. The movement of the branches contains elements of both control and lawlessness—while the whirling motion of the trees is fanciful and seemingly enchanted, the movement is limited by the roots of the trees. This pattern of movement echoes both the celebratory and ceremonial aspects of moving prayer.

Jennifer Steinkamp studied at CalArts and ArtCenter in Los Angeles and has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. Her group shows include the “8th Annual Istanbul Biennial” and participation in shows at the San Jose Museum of Art and the Seoul Museum of Art. In 2004, she collaborated with director Bill Friedken, creating sets for the opera Tannhauser at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, and Lincoln Center, New York. Her work was also included in the show, “Visual Music,” at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in 2005.

Barbara Westermann

Connectors

2005

cast plaster and plastic tubing
dimensions variable

(b. 1958 — Werdhol, Germany) Born in Germany, Barbara Westermann has strong roots in both conceptualist and feminist theory. Hints of both of these philosophical movements can be found in this stunning wall sculpture. For example, a staple device of conceptual artists is to incorporate repeated (or serialized) forms to construct a motif/idea. Serialization has historically been used for a variety of reasons including the critique of commodity culture or to emphasize process. While Westermann's modules reflect these thoughts, they also meld together suggesting an overall single mechanism that appears to have a bizarre function. It’s through this suggested utility that feminist politics surface. Through its milky-white vessels and passageways, one wonders what manufactured product becomes the result of this process. What passes through these tubes, and what is created? As it becomes obvious that the structure is ultimately connected to itself (over and over again), a great sense of uniformity and flowing interconnectivity emerges—perhaps a metaphor for the ubiquitous sisterhood that has given life to waves of feminism since the early days of suffragists. Each unit seemingly relies on another and that one on yet another, creating a fabric of autonomy with a fixed mission of sustainability.

The installation is comprised of 300 uniquely cast multiple forms, each connected to one another by a complex web of plastic tubing. The cast modules are intended to at once reference both mechanical elements and organic growths; the connecting tubes can be read as the support system that gives life/energy to the entire web. Vacillating between industrial and biological efficacy, “Connectors” may also make an interesting comment on the hybridization of technology and living organisms—on the advancement of silicon-based life forms. By employing an absolutely clean, almost clinical, surface to all the components, this “spiritual machine*” seems safe, and even beautiful. As such, it calls into question our blind faith that may too often accept the advancement of new technology without scrutiny or debate. What appears on the surface to be pure and clinical may ultimately be dangerous or even lethal.

*A reference to Ray Kurzweil's “Age of Spiritual Machines” in which the author raises questions about the moral responsibility that humans should or should not extend to an increasingly evolved population of cyber-machines.

Royden Watson

Portrait of a Stud

2002

oil on canvas
96 inches by 3.5 inches by 1.5 inches (each)

Through sculpture, painting, and drawing, Royden Watson navigates consumer culture through the lens of extreme American standardization. Canvas paintings that are exact reproductions of milled lumber, graphite rubbings of manhole covers from various “Main Streets” of America, and plastic gallon jugs delicately carved from stone are examples of his beautifully transformed subject matter. Although obvious comparisons can be made to pop art's* fascination with banality, Watson derails the empty detachment of pop by applying an absolutely earnest attention to detail and craft.

This series of oil paintings (they really are oil paintings on stretched canvases) are perhaps the wittiest works in the artist's body of assorted American standards. Rather than inventing imagined surfaces that mimic typical two-by-fours, Watson instead used actual lumber from a hardware store as surrogate studio models to make these true-to-life replicas—each one an exact portrait of a stud. The use of the word “stud” is particularly interesting for this series. The artist conjures the term that is applied to this type of lumber only once it has been used to build a wall, and by association subsequently, the builder of the wall. But, being paintings leaning against the wall, these objects would serve little purpose in the real sense of the construction industry. The artist, by engendering his own work, puns a somewhat coy critique of the presumed masculinity present in the very trade of building. The extreme delicacy and beauty of Watson's brushwork in depicting the object stud is humorously contrasted by our stereotyped perceptions of a tough and calloused worker—the person stud. The portraits' studlyness relies on our attention to this imagined person, even though the paintings specifically only depict the material. And, as mere depiction, the usefulness of the object as a “real” stud is rendered impractical and functionless—left then to be taken in solely as a prissy decorative enhancement to the sturdy wall onto which the paintings lean.

As an interesting side anecdote, Royden Watson used the very pieces of lumber that were his sitters for the paintings to construct an elaborate second-story addition onto his house in Cleveland, Ohio.

*Pop art: The origin of this art movement is widely credited to the British artist Richard Hamilton. Pop art was deeply aligned with fashion and advertising and was championed by artists like Marisol Escobar and Andy Warhol.

Sharon Louden

The Attenders

2003 – 2008

monofilament line, cage clips, electrical and floral wire, and glue
dimensions variable

(b. 1964 — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Using more than 850 miles of multicolored monofilament line, cage clips, and electrical wire, Sharon Louden constructed hundreds of units, each of which she refers to as an “attender.” Louden originally installed “The Attenders” in the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri, where these floating entities observed and absorbed all of the activity in this lively cultural center.

In arranging the bundles of monofilament line, or the attenders, Louden viewed the space as a blank sheet of paper and conceived of the entire installation as a drawing in space. The attenders, with their wig-like appearance, exude a human presence, as they seem to be arranged in social groupings. Occupying the space in multiple dimensions, the bundles interact with the viewer in a variety of ways. The black group nearest the floor anchors the attenders by inhabiting our terrestrial space and greeting each passerby, while the bundles that hover overhead seem to observe and passively bear witness to the activities below. Some bundles are gathered in cliques while others are isolated. Light also plays an integral role in the character of “The Attenders,” creating shadows on the wall and on the floor, which Louden regards as companion drawings that add to the whole.

At Progressive, Louden envisions the attenders accompanying the energy and vibrancy of the activities surrounding them. They will engage and reflect the energy that emanates from the constant flow of information both among Progressive people and with our customers. In its new home at Progressive, the installation will have a new configuration and will therefore spark a unique dialogue between the material and its viewers.

The artist took an unusual approach to financing this project: she partnered with her husband to sell shares of “The Attenders,” creating a comprehensive business plan which they presented to previous collectors of the artist's work. The team secured nine investors who played an integral part in realizing the project. After securing the monofilament line, she employed 15 artist assistants to construct the components of the sculpture over a period of four months. Louden believes that the collaborative spirit with which the piece was created and assembled, with the hard work and support of so many people, mirrors the ethics and work environment at Progressive.

Louden earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, in 1988, and an MFA from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1991. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States at such institutions as the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut; The Drawing Center, New York, New York; Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, Delaware; and Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri. Her work is also included in numerous permanent collections such as the National Gallery of Art, Arkansas Arts Center, Yale University Art Gallery, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. She received a grant from the Elizabeth Foundation in 2000 and has participated in residencies at Tamarind Institute, Urban Glass, American Academy in Rome, and Art Omi.