BRANCUSI

Brancusi's spiritual aspirations, his longing for transcendence of the material world and its constraints, are verbalized in his description of Bird in Space as a "project before being enlarged to fill the vault of the sky."

Dear Sophie -

The Roumanian born CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI came to Paris and made his life there. He rejected any decoration in his work and reduced his forms in search of an essence and spirituality. 

 

With Love,

Mom

CLAES OLDENBERG

Dear Sophie -

The works of pop artist CLAES OLDENBERG were really refreshing when he constructed these whimsical oversized paper mache and plastic renditions of everyday objects.  

Collaborating with his 3rd wife Coosje van Bruggen, the work evolved to these polished whimsical monuments.

Oldenberg's binoculars defined the entrance to this Frank Gehry building designed and constructed for Jay Chiat.

(Albert asked: "Why are these binoculars facing down when the ocean is two blocks away?")

With love,

Mom

GIACOMETTI

Dear Sophie -

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI was a sculpture and painter who created these stunning elongated forms.

He was very close with his brother DIEGO GIACOMETTI who created beautiful brass furniture and was often the subject of Albert's works. 

He was Swiss born, but lived in Paris for a good amount of time and was part of the Surrealist movement. ALBERT FREY was an admirer of his line and delicacy. 

With love,

Mom

ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG

Dear Sophie -

The career of painter/sculptor ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG was pivotal, bridging the New York expressionists while foreshadowing the pop art that was to follow. He collected debris from the streets and assembled it in his studio, often merging newsprint and photographic materials.  

With love,

Mom

JOSEPH CORNELL

Dear Sophie -

JOSEPH CORNELL was an American artist who transformed bits of everyday found materials to a poetic, celestial, magical world.  

His mind was populated with songbirds and famed divas with storied pasts, while his reality inhabited a modest house in Queens, NY. 

With love,

Mom

EVA HESSE

Dear Sophie -

Just as conceptualism, minimalism and rigorous geometric forms were the prevalent dialogue, EVA HESSE was in her studio creating these extraordinarily personal sculptures.  While she employed grids and repetition, she used materials such as latex and fiberglass that had distinctly irregular and human properties.  She was highly influential to me and her pre-mature loss from illness was a tragedy.

Recently the Hammer museum in L.A. exhibited early paintings of Hesse's that I had never seen before.  They had beautiful palettes, and really told the story of how she evolved from her painting practice to sculpture, and finding her own distinct voice.

With love,

Mom

CLAIRE FALKENSTEIN

Dear Sophie -

CLAIRE FALKENSTEIN lived in SF, Paris,New York & L.A.  Familiar territory!  She embedded molten glass like jewels among thorny thickets of metal.  The gates at Peggy Guggenheims home in Venice Italy is my favorite work.  So glad we shared it together!

With love,

Mommy