Off the Wall
OKC Museum of Art showcases a century of sculpture
To the ancient Greeks and Romans, a sculpture was considered one of the highest forms of art.
“It was an actual replica of nature since it was three-dimensional,” said Oklahoma City Museum of Art Curator Roja Najafi. “Painting was always this decoration … but sculpture was something that, if you’re a good artist, if you’re an artist in the realm of gods, you make a sculpture. That’s what you want.”
The Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s new exhibit “Off the Wall: One Hundred Years of Sculpture” boasts dual meanings even as it explores a century of three-dimensional artwork, from a bronze bust devised by German artist Wilhelm Lehmbruck in 1915 to a
large-scale wall sculpture American artist Lisa Hoke crafted from paper cups, cereal boxes and Batman party plates in 2015.
“Sculpture shows generally are difficult to do because of the space they take,” Najafi said. “But the main thing was this idea of strange, of a strangeness, and how sculpture and painting — the three-dimensional and two-dimensional — kept pushing their boundaries.
Basically, paintings didn’t want to stay on the wall flat, and sculptures didn’t want to keep their solidity in the threedimensional space. And you see this push and pull.”
Showing the rarely seen
Whether made from classic materials like bronze or marble or more unconventional materials like bones, fiberglass insulation or urethane foam, the eclectic sculptures featured in “Off the Wall” primarily come from the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s permanent collection.
The exhibit is the latest effort by museum staffers to explore the vast permanent collection, which numbers more than 4,000 objects, only about 2 percent of which can be displayed at one time.
“I think we have such an incredible permanent collection … and Roja has done such a wonderful job of researching what we have and looking at what we can put out in different ways and new ways,” said Becky Weintz, the museum’s director of marketing and communications. “We have so many people who come back over and over again, and to see different things every time they come is kind of one of our goals. We don’t want the museum to become stagnant; we want it to be a living, breathing space where people can come and enjoy and see something new.”
“Off the Wall” showcases beloved museum favorites like Frank Stella’s The Spirit-Spout, a colorful homage to Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick,” and Bill Barrett’s Rendezvous, a fabricated aluminum Cubist-style depiction of two embracing figures.
But the exhibit also features several rarely seen works like Mexican artist Leonardo Nierman’s sinuous white marble piece Peace and the late Oklahoma woodworker James L. Henkle’s Sea Structure, a gumwood column that calls to mind a seaside pier.
Oklahoma sculptor David L. Phelps’ heroic-size figure of a farmer laborer called The Bailer hasn’t been exhibited since the California native created it in 1984 as he was finishing his studies at the University of Oklahoma, Najafi said. Although he is now known for creating his large-scale works in bronze, she said local art lovers will recognize his signature style even crafted from urethane foam, burlap and other more unusual materials.
“Almost all of his works are merged or submerged or coming out of the ground,” she said. “He’s eliminating the issue of pedestals.”
Putting it to a vote
“Off the Wall” also includes the recent fan favorite Alfonso Ossorio’s INxIT, a bizarre assemblage of animal horns, goggle-eyed skulls and resin blobs collected in a door frame. It had rarely been shown until last year, when it became the fascinating centerpiece — and favorite selfie stop — of the exhibit “A Question of Beauty.”
“I love this work: It’s both off-the-wall strange and actually projecting off the wall,” Najafi said. “Some works are awkward, sometimes they’re ugly, sometimes they’re beautiful. That’s very aggressive — and people loved it. … Yes, we experience them with our bodies and our eyes, but a big part of our experience these days is how it looks on our digital and social media.”
To that end, the museum marked a first while installing “Off the Wall,” offering followers a chance to vote in person or via Facebook on three sculptures from its collection, with the “People’s Choice” earning a spot in the exhibit. The winner, Charles Umlauf’s depiction of the falling mythological figure Icarus, is on view around the corner from his son Karl Umlauf’s abstract Reflective Structure No. 4.
“I think maybe that’s why people loved it, because we all have had this experience: aimed high and burned down and then we fall,” Najafi said with a laugh while looking at Icarus.
“I honestly think it’s an opportunity. Sculpture shows are hard, but they are really fun to get engaged with … and we want people to have fun.”