| BARBARA WESTERMANN | |
| Barbara Westermann's work is a conceptual alphabet to monitor the way we see the human body, the architectonics and literatures of sky and earth, and the music which courses through the world's membrane. Without reference to other artwork, without fragmentation or disillusionment, without simulating something or other, her sculptures re-examine constructivist and ideological impulses in the history of art, in cultures, in the daily lives we fill with laundry wash, squid ink quill bits, teaching Beuys to college kids: Marx's dream of a day of fishing, criticizing, soldering car parts, making art then sleeping off a hangover. Heiner Muller once remade, in a play, Ophelia as Ulrike Meinhof. What part does the terrorist group RAF play not only in history but in the making of images and signs? What road does embodiment of the ideal ivory tower lead us down? Puzzles, towers, bone-implants, waxy human organs are part of the encyclopedic catalog of her industrialized lyrics in 3-D gloss and opaques.
She's shown her work widely, including single shows a recent show at Brown University, Art Resources Transfer, the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Freiburg Museum of Contemporary Art in Germany. She's taught a course called Materiality and Social Sculpture at the New School for Social Research in New York for many years, as well as studio courses at Providence College, Roger Williams University, and the Rhode Island School of Design. Her projects and portfolio can be seen at www.barbarawestermann.com. |
Tractatus, Ballard Quarry, Newport, RI, 1999 |