Louise Bourgeois’ hang-ups are revealed in ’Suspension’ at New York’s Cheim & Read
Louise Bourgeois might be best known for her otherworldly spider sculptures, but a new showcase of all-hanging works at Cheim & Read in New York traces the artist's fascination with suspended art, which she has continually experimented with throughout her career. Aptly titled 'Suspension', the exhibition is the first survey of Bourgeois' hanging sculptures, featuring examples from her recurring themes - like the 1968 'Janus' series and her 1990s cloth figures.
Spanning more than 45 years of Bourgeois' career, the 25-piece show is a tribute to the artist's dynamic way of working. 'Louise liked doing forms with different materials. She had no allegiance to any material,' says her longtime chief assistant Jerry Gorovoy, who led a private tour during the opening of the show. 'Sometimes the same piece would be done in different materials and they would all have a very different feel.'
From fabric-covered torsos hung tenderly upside down to the bronze-painted 'Lair' (1962), one of the earliest pieces in the show, the sculptures share physical characteristics despite their formal differences. Even the more abstract pieces - such as 'The Quartered One' (1964-5) and 'Fée Couturière' (1963) - have anthropomorphic qualities, linking back to recurring themes in Bourgeois' work, whether they be feelings toward her father or her ideas about gender and sexuality.
By abandoning conventional plinths and allowing each work to move freely from its perch, the past Wallpaper* guest editor (W*115) bestows her sculptures with an instability that counters their density and weight. The hanging of works is also an expression of her state of mind. The artist once traced her fascination with suspension back to her childhood, when her father would hang his collection of wooden chairs off wood beams in the attic. 'It was very pure,' she once said. 'You would look up and see these armchairs hanging in very good order. The floor was bare - this is the origin of a lot of hanging pieces.
'Suspension' unveils several works for the first time: the eye-catching and macabre 'Legs' (2001); the knitted, double-headed 'Arch of Hysteria' (2004); and the spiraling 'The Couple' (2007-9), a seven-metre version of which will be installed in Vienna's Wien Mitte station in the near future. Bourgeois may no longer be with us, but her spirit, as this exhibition proves, is still very much alive.
ADDRESS
Cheim & Read
547 West 25th Street
New York
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Pei-Ru Keh is a former US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru held various titles at Wallpaper* between 2007 and 2023. She reports on design, tech, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru took a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars, actively seeking out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
-
Take a deep dive into Norway's art scene with the Lofoten International Art Festival
Kite tails, lingonberries and woven islands: the Lofoten International Art Festival unveils its 18th edition
By Louise Long Published
-
Where to eat sushi in London
From high-end hotels to supermarket pop-ups, food critic Ben McCormack recommends London's best sushi spots
By Ben McCormack Published
-
Don't miss these films at the BFI London Film Festival 2024
The BFI has announced the lineup for their 68th festival, and it's a stellar one
By Billie Walker Published
-
Brutalism in film: the beautiful house that forms the backdrop to The Room Next Door
The Room Next Door's production designer discusses mood-boarding and scene-setting for a moving film about friendship, fragility and the final curtain
By Anne Soward Published
-
'There’s an anxiety under all of it': Violet Dennison in New York
Violet Dennison debuts abstract paintings with new show 'Damaged Self' at Tara Downs Gallery
By Mary Cleary Published
-
‘Gas Tank City’, a new monograph by Andrew Holmes, is a photorealist eye on the American West
‘Gas Tank City’ chronicles the artist’s journey across truck-stop America, creating meticulous drawings of fleeting moments
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Mark Armijo McKnight’s bodily landscapes capture the tactile serenity of the American West
The artist’s new exhibition at the Whitney Museum, which is organised by the museum curator Drew Sawyer, offers a succinct window into his contemplative suggestion of queering a landscape
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Dark, glamorous and hedonistic: a photography book captures New York in the 1990s
New York: High Life, Low Life, by Dafydd Jones, goes behind the scenes of New York society
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Derrick Alexis Coard’s portraits are a sensitive, positive testimony to Black men
The late artist Derrick Alexis Coard’s retrospective ‘I Am That I Am’, at New York’s Salon 94, honours his ‘symbolic expression for possible change for the African-American male community’
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Intimacy, violence and the uncanny: Joanna Piotrowska in Philadelphia
Artist and photographer Joanna Piotrowska stages surreal scenes at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania
By Hannah Silver Published
-
First look: Sphere’s new exterior artwork draws on a need for human connection
Wallpaper* talks to Tom Hingston about his latest large-scale project – designing for the Exosphere
By Charlotte Gunn Published