Fred Sandback

Fred Sandback is an artist that I just recently became aware of that is considered by some to be a link between minimalism and post-minimalism. The works for which he is most known are geometric volumes defined by acrylic yarn, almost like three dimensional drawings in real space. I first saw his work this past December while visiting my wife's family for the holidays. I went to Indianapolis Museum of Art (a great museum for a city that size) which had a room with three of his sculptures. On a trip to NYC last week I saw two more of his works, one in a group show at the James Cohan Gallery, and the other at MoMA.

The first encounter, at IMA, may be the one that sticks out in my mind the most for what was perhaps an unintended effect. One of the works consisted of several stands of colored yarn stretched from floor to ceiling. The virtual planes created by these lines seemed to shift and undulate due to the air currents from the heating system. I was suprized how such a seemingly simple work had such a profound perceptual and emotional effect. I have at least passing familiarity with a good deal of the work up at IMA at any given time, but these pieces were new and exciting to me. (There were also some Adrian Schiess paintings I was happy to see although the installation wasn't that great, I've seen his work look much better others places such as Albright-Knox in a show last year)

The second time I saw Sandback's work was at the James Cohan group show. The work, another piece that had yarn spanning from floor to ceiling, in that show looked really terrific. It definitely was one of the stronger works on display.

The third encounter with his work at MoMA was troubling for me. It was one of his trapezoids leaning against the wall. On a adjacent wall was a Dan Flavin florescent light sculpture. I usually like Flavin but this piece was mean and pushy, it filled the room with this saccharine white light that made the Sandback look too tense and brittle. I wanted to smash those stupid light tubes. I kept unconsciously trying to stand in between the two sculptures to block the light but of course that didn't help at all. I was surprised that the curators at MoMA would have made such a poor choice for the placement of these works.

I've been interested in Minimalist and post-Minimalist work for almost 20 years. I must have seen Sandback's work before, yet I can't recall ever seeing it anywhere. Strangely, out of the blue a few years after the artist's death, I have seen five substantial works of his in three different venues. Perhaps his work is making a comeback. It certainly deserves it. I hope I have the chance to see more soon. Maybe the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester will organize a retrospective. I can dream, can't I?

edit- I just realized that I missed a show at David Zwirner that's closing on the 14th of Sandback's work. It's times like this that I agonize about not living in NYC anymore, I miss the food too. grrrr!