JOEL SHAPIRO’S UNTITLED (1981)

Bio: Currently resides in New York City, He was born September 27, 1941 in Queens New York. He is an American Sculptor that thrives in creating minimalist pieces and simple rectangular shapes.

Early life: in 1964 at 23 years old he got his Bachelor of Arts at New york University, and 5 years later he got his Masters of Arts at New york University as well. After that he went to live in India for two years while serving in the Peace Corps, and when in India seeing all of the artwork and how art was pervasive and integral to the society. It sparked an idea that he could possibly pursue art as a profession. He received a Bachelors in Art and then went on to get his Masters in Art from New York University.

His early art pieces: They have been described as small, but Shapiro discounted this notion and says its due to the sculpture’s in India, their sculptures are small in size and he claims that’s where he based most of his early work off of. But as time went on the Scale changed and Shapiro says that “A very active thing that’s changing and altering as time unfolds, consciously or unconsciously,” and, “a relationship of size and an experience. You can have something small that has big scale.” In these works he said that he was trying “to describe an emotional state, my own longing or desire”.

Where he Draws Inspiration: Joel Shapiro has previously said that he was inspired in India when he saw how important art was to their society. His art dances on the line of abstraction and figuration and says that he draws inspiration for artists such as Robert Morris, Richard Cerra, Carl Andre, and Donald Judd. He has also said that he feels his works are more colorful and playful than the works of his peers. “Conceptual art seemed awfully illustrative and pedantic, I thought my problem was to describe an emotional state, my own longing or desire.

His Later Work: The aspect that separates Shapiro’s statue work is the introduction of human figures into minimalism, something that only done sporadically at the time. Popular statue artists at this time like Beverly Pepper and Richard Serra often left figures and depictions out of their work. His later works can have the appearance of flying, falling, being impossibly suspended in space, and/or defying gravity. He has said about this shift in his work that he “wanted to make work that stood on its own, and wasn’t limited by architecture and by the ground and the wall and right angles.” Just in the year 1981 he had one of his pieces featured or sold in San Francisco, Jerusalem, Tokyo, Minneapolis, North Carolina and many others. He currently has pieces featured at the Tate museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles among many other places around the world. He still has exhibitions going on yearly and already has two scheduled for 2018.

Materials: Joel Shapiro has used a vast amount of different materials ranging from wood and sometimes painted aluminium to various types of metals such as bronze and steel. He’s also used wire for suspending projects in the air to make them appear as if they are floating. For example his Airplane series. As for his non sculpture pieces he has been known to use screen printing/lithographs, charcoal, gouache, woodblock prints, and etching on bronze plates.

Interesting Information: He has Pieces in 20 States, and 9 Countries.  In 2005 he was given the “Chevalier dans l’order des Arts et des Lettres” (Order of Arts and Letters) in France to recognize his significant contributions to the arts. He was also elected to the Swedish Royal Academy of art in 1994 and the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1998. The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters gave him the Award of Merit Medal for Sculpture in 1990. His pieces have also been featured in many prestigious group exhibitions like both the Whitney Biennial, New York in 1977, 1979, 1981, and 1989, the Venice Biennale in 1980 and Documenta in Kassel Germany in 1977 and 1982.

Credits:

http://www.artnet.com/artists/joel-shapiro/,

https://www.artsy.net/artist/joel-shapiro,

https://www.paulacoopergallery.com/artists/joel-shapiro/biography

https://web.archive.org/web/20110521071906/http://lalouver.com/resource/shapiro_bio/shapiro_bio.pdf

http://www.berggruen.com/artists/joel-shapiro

Song in video: Harold Budd – Bismillahi ‘Rrahman ‘Rrahim