Sculptor examines how his work fits into the new Norton Museum
Abstract N.Y. artist has public art displayed across the world.
Joel Shapiro zipped down to the Norton Museum last week from New York to eyeball the new placement of his sculptures on the north wall at the corner of Dixie Highway and Jefffferson Road.
But as he watched workers tweak one of the pieces in the two-part work it came crashing down from its spot about 28 feet offff the ground.
Not to worry. It was a Styrofoam mock-up of “Up/Over,” the pair of bronze sculptures that used to stand in the niches flflanking the museum’s former entrance.
And Cheryl Brutvan, contemporary art curator and director of curatorial affffairs, had snapped a picture when they were correctly fastened to the wall, so all was well.
Shapiro likes how the stick- fifigure-like forms will seem to flfloat above the ground outside the Stiller Family Foundation Auditorium and above a VIP and bus drop-offff driveway.
They’ll be oriented difffffffffffferently from the way they were in the niches and one sculpture will be slightly higher than the other.
“I wanted it to look like it just arrived,” the artist said. “I wanted it to look like it was very much in the present. It’s the perfect work to have on the wall of a theater. It’s very theatrical.”
The scale of the works fifits the wall — the larger is about 13 feet tall, 14 feet wide and 9 feet deep — and Shapiro likes how the two pieces will dialogue with each other, he said.
“It captures the essence of your work,” Brutvan told the sculptor. “It springs out almost magically.”
Shapiro is known for abstract sculptures that reference the fifig- ure, thrust into the space around them and play with perception. The artist, whose work has been exhibited and collected by major museums, has executed more than 20 commissions for sculptures in public places, including
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