Martin Puryear
Martin Puryear was born in 1941, he attended Catholic University of America, Washington, DC and Recived B.A. in Art in 1963 and received his MFA in sculpture from Yale in 1971.
Horsefly 1996-2000 wire mesh, tar, glass and wood 97 x 79 x 95 3/4 inches 246.4 x 200.7 x 243.2 cm The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Martin Puryear combines minimalist mentality and traditional craft skills. He learned many of these skills while serving with the Peace Corps in Serra Leone. Many summaries mention this, seeming to suggest that the knowledge gleaned there is closer to the source and adds a lost skill or mystery to the work. Take that as you will. Regardless, Puryear’s work is remarkable in its ability to embody the experience of relating to and interacting with objects. They have a stillness and importance that is not usually carried by the materials that they are made out of. By referring to, but not becoming, many common objects Puryear’s sculptures become comfortably unfamiliar. Puryear avoids reference to contemporary events, allowing his work to be infinitely applicable. While his work is astonishingly appealing I wonder what the work’s social function is. When I see the sculptures I find myself thinking ‘but why?’