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Solidarity on the wall and sculpture on and off the floor at WAM
BY RANDI HOPKINS
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The poetic sculptor Jim Hodges has addressed time and space in his work over the past decade, using, for example, thousands of silk flowers sewn loosely together into an ephemeral curtain of paper-thin blooms, or lengths of the slightest silver chain pinned gently together in the inimitable shape of a wavering spider web. Transitory stuff like tissue paper, thread, and paper napkins takes the place of those traditional sculptural materials — marble, say, or bronze — that reek of immortality. In this year’s Whitney Biennial, Hodges shows a large-scale photograph of a tree from which hundreds of leaves have been laboriously cut and folded down to reveal their white, photo-paper backsides; they appear to flutter in an attempt to bring the photograph of nature "to life" — or at least to three-dimensionality. Now the big-thinking sculptor takes on the fragile threads that join humanity across the globe in a new project developed for the Worcester Art Museum’s "Wall at WAM" series, "Jim Hodges: Don’t Be Afraid," which opens April 16. "Don’t Be Afraid" is a massive collaborative project in the form of a mural. Its "medium" is personal handwriting samples from individual representatives of the member countries of the United Nations, each of whom has been invited to write the phrase "don’t be afraid" in his or her own handwriting and language. Hodges combines these samples to create an expansive, 67-foot wall drawing in the museum’s Renaissance Court; in a press release, he explains, "In my mind, the unique quality of each participant’s penmanship will give the drawing a wonderful range and variety of line and symbolically represents the unique sound of each participant’s ‘voice.’ " It’s a heroic undertaking, the expression of one simple, shared sentiment through the shaky, intimate, handwritten word. Translating ideas or images into three-dimensional objects is the business at hand for sculptors, whether the ultimate result is a two-dimensional mural on a 67-foot wall, colored vinyl tape on a gallery floor, or a clay-and-metal model of something as amorphous as an explosion. The Worcester Art Museum is also presenting "How Sculptors See," which opens next Thursday. Curated by WAM’s wonderful contemporary curator, Susan Stoops (she’s also the driving force behind "Wall at WAM"), and drawn primarily from the museum’s permanent collection, "How Sculptors See" explores the process of creating sculpture in an era where the definition of that genre is elastic. The intriguing lot of contemporary artists will include Christo, Willie Cole, Melvin Edwards, Jackie Ferrara, Heide Fasnacht, Nancy Graves, Donald Judd, Jim Lambie, Charles LeDray, Sol LeWitt, Richard Serra, Kiki Smith, and Rachel Whiteread. Two-dimensional drawings and prints don’t just reveal the starting point for these artists, they also map out the distance an idea travels before it comes into existence as a sculpture, and they take you along on the journey. "Jim Hodges: Don’t Be Afraid" is part of "Wall at WAM" at the Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury Street in Worcester, April 16 through March 31, with a free opening reception and artist talk on April 15 at 7 p.m. Also at the Worcester Art Museum, "How Sculptors See" is on view from April 8 through October 10. Call (508) 799-4406 for information about Worcester Art Museum events.
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