Des Moines Art Center exhibits Puryear

Julien R. Fielding

DES MOINES - Martin Puryear's sculptures are large.

So large, in fact, that the Des Moines Art Center's latest exhibition of the artist's work features just nine pieces, one of which, "In Sheep's Clothing," the center already had in its permanent collection.

"These pieces are large to very large, although (Puryear) does do some smaller pieces," said Susan Lubowsky-Talbott, Des Moines Art Center director.

To get an idea of the size of the sculptures in the exhibition, consider two pieces: "Ladder for Booker T. Washington" (1996), a work fashioned from ash, is 36 feet long; and the cedar and rattan basket, "Brunhilde" (1998-2000), measures about 8 feet tall.

To accommodate these works, all of the center's walls, except for ones used to create a reading and study room, had to be removed from the main exhibition space.

"Martin Puryear" is the first major U.S. museum exhibition of the artist's works in more than a decade, and some of the works are being exhibited for the first time.

The Des Moines Art Center is the final stop for the exhibition's four-venue tour, which began at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Va., then continued onto the Miami Art Museum in Florida and the University of California Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

The exhibition is slightly different than when it started, Talbott said. Because Puryear works in woods, metals and tars, some of the pieces were too fragile to continue on.

But it's just as well, Talbott said, because the show fits perfectly in the Des Moines center space.

Talbott has been the director at Des Moines Art Center for about three years, and said she was excited about having an artist of Puryear's stature come to the center.

"The reason I wanted to get this exhibition so badly is he's an extraordinary artist," she said. "I couldn't have been happier when he was named as America's Best Artist. His career hasn't been built on (public relations.)"

What Talbott praised about this artist was how dedicated he has been to creating art, not so much for others, but for himself.

"Puryear has a very personal, individual vision that he has pursued in his career," she said. "He's removed from contemporary trends. He really comes from an internal place that is influenced by cultural forces. He's not influenced by trends. He stays away from trendiness."

Puryear draws on a number of cultures he has experienced first-hand, including American Indian, Scandinavian, African, Japanese and Arctic cultures. To create these pieces he employs natural and industry-made materials, including various types of wood, wire mesh, tar, glass and particle board.

"Martin's work takes a number of turns," she said.

The works made of tar and wire mesh are forceful and crude in their composition, she said. His wood pieces, on the other hand, are simple and elegant.

"They are very beautifully crafted, smooth and often anthropomorphic," she said. "'In Sheep's Clothing' is finely crafted, smooth and simple. It's minimal in form."

Talbott said the piece reminds her of the artist's decoy series which contains sculptures that are somewhat animal or birdlike with no heads; only necks.

"The (sculptures) are swanlike, and very elegant," she said. "('In Sheep's Clothing') is almost the scale of a horse or a very large animal, but with a hollow neck. Those hollow spaces are like a secret interior. He's very interested in space. Everyone who sees ('In Sheep's Clothing') wants to pet it. It demands that you pet it, because it's very tactile. It has been the bane of our guard's existence."

But despite a "look but don't touch policy," visitors simply cannot keep their hands off and Talbott said the piece is getting so dirty it's already in need of cleaning.

While Puryear is an African-American artist, his works are more about aesthetics than anything else.

"Craft is so important to his work," she said. "It's about form. Some African-American artists use their race as a badge and their work is about racial issues, but Puryear's not interested in taking a stand and his work generally isn't politicized.

That makes "Ladder for Booker T. Washington" an unusual title, she said.

"Usually he doesn't direct the viewers with clues," she said. "His titles are ambiguous. They are puzzling and not immediately apparent."

As her first task as director of Des Moines Art Center, Talbott wanted to acquire a Puryear sculpture. Although it wasn't an easy task.

"His output is so small, and he's in such demand that it was by luck that we were able to find a piece we loved," she said.

The museum was able to acquire "In Sheep's Clothing" after a major collector, who had had the piece put on hold, suddenly took it off.

"He works very slowly, carefully," she said. "That's why there hasn't been a lot of output."

Born in 1941, Puryear graduated with a degree in painting from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., in 1963. He served in the Peace Corps where he went to Sierra Leone in West Africa. There he studied carpentry and woodworking while working as a teacher. He studied printmaking in Stockholm, Sweden, where he also pursued artistic interests, including sculpture, wood design, cabinetry and furniture making. In the late 1960s, he returned stateside to study sculpture at Yale University. He received his masters of fine arts degree in 1971, then went on to teach at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn.

He made his first museum exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; his last traveling exhibition, in 1991, started at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1991.

During his career, Puryear has received a number of awards, including a Guggenheim grant in 1982 and a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989.

In 1999 Puryear became the first African American artist to represent the United States at the Sao Paulo Biennial in Brazil, where he received the grand prize. He has received international recognition, first through his participation in "Documenta IX" in Kassel, Germany, and then in 1997 in exhibitions at the American Academy of Rome and at la Caixa Foundation in Madrid, Spain.

"Martin Puryear" continues through April 14 at 4700 Grand Ave., in Des Moines. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays and the first Friday of each month, and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call (515) 277-4405 or go to www.DesMoinesArtCenter.org.

School and group-guided tours are available.

Des Moines Art Center exhibits Puryear was originally published in Daily Nonpareil on 14 February, 2002. © Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil LLC