Iconic sculptors at Turner Carroll Gallery
Sculpture is unique as a three dimensional medium that engages viewers with every new angle. At Turner Carroll Gallery, we are proud to represent incredible sculptors, whose work ranges from the abstract clay vessels of Sharon Brush, to the monumental steel installations of Karen Yank, to the subtle realist bronze casts of Camille Claudel, to the folded lithographs of Karl Wirsum, to the conceptual Mormon bonnets made of corsage pins by Angela Ellsworth.
Sculpture is one of the oldest forms of human art, and started as symbolic, portable figures in societies as old as 25,000 BCE. The first materials included stone, wood, and bone, which have endured in contemporary art even today: Sharon Brush’s white ceramic sculptures often echo the bone motif of desert skulls, Marietta Patricia Leis’ Traces and Solo take wood motifs to the next level, for example.
Contemporary sculpture emerged in the 20th century as artists evolved beyond traditional materials. Influenced by movements like Minimalism and Conceptual Art, sculpture began to include space, light, and audience interaction. By the 21st century, contemporary sculpture began to incorporate more technology, performance, globalization, and social commentary.
One of Turner Carroll Gallery’s most notable achievements in sculpture was the record-breaking sale in North America of Camille Claudel’s work. Claudel, genius sculptress and muse of Auguste Rodin, by whom she was never credited, was a pioneering French sculptor renowned for her mastery of marble carving, bronze casting, terracotta modeling, and onyx in the early 1900s. We are also honored to represent her great grandnephew Calyxte Campe, who displays the same talent for sensitivity and detailed handwork.
Sculpture also has a long tradition of inter-medium conversation–many sculptures were intended as models for paintings, while many traditionally two-dimensional mediums like paper, canvas, and photography have transformed into three-dimensional sculptures by innovative artists.
Turner Carroll’s contemporary sculptors are innovating across materials and cultures. An important Karl Wirsum, Charles Ginnever, and Lesley Dill combined the mediums of print and sculpture with their groundbreaking 3D, folded lithograph sculptures printed at Landfall press. Matt Shlian works at the edge of technology, engineering, and art, creating folded sculptures that are unimaginably precise. Natalie Christensen combines abstract photography and sculpture in her incredible serigraph and steel pieces.
Swoon’s eidophones incorporated symbolism from her larger narrative body of work on found objects, combining two dimensional fine art with familiar and accessible objects. Eri Imamura combines the artistic Native American tradition of beadwork with the Japanese tradition of kimono silk in her sculptures which depict contemporary Japanese media. Douglas Miles portrays the Apache Native American experience with his suitcases featuring images of resistance and migration.
Author: Sophie Carroll