Quoth the Sculpture, ‘Woof’
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Anne Arnold, a sculptor associated with the historic Tanager Gallery collective that included Alex Katz and Lois Dodd, is receiving her first solo exhibition in 24 years at Alexandre Gallery.
“In a period when Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Pop Art and many other movements came and went, Arnold persisted down her own path, eventually defining a singular position in American sculpture,” says the gallery. “While Arnold’s own early role in the development and wide acceptance of Pop is made clear, it can also be argued that Arnold understood better than her peers the traditions of the first ‘popular’ American art forms found in vernacular, vintage folk objects such as weather vanes, decoys and hand-painted country advertising.
“Arnold’s work is quirky and personal, and humor is often a characteristic. Her animals’ body language is spot-on, whether it be the stretching lean of a cat, the raked ears of a crouching rabbit, or the unexpected lightness and grace of a large farm animal. We know an animal differently after seeing one of Arnold’s sculptures and, perhaps, care about them more for their individual traits evoked so precisely as essential form, gesture and presence.”
“Anne Arnold: Sculpture from Four Decades” runs through June 8 at Alexandre Gallery, 41 East 57 Street, at Madison Avenue, 212-755-2828, alexandregallery.com.
Franklin Einspruch is the art critic for The New York Sun. He blogs at Artblog.net.
