Daniel Libeskind – Chamber Works: Architectural Meditations on Themes from Heraclitus, 1983

Daniel Libeskind Plate I (of the Vertical Series) for the folio Chamber Works: Architectural Meditations an Themes from Heraclitus, 1983 Born 1946. Lodz. Poland: Cranbrook Academy of Art. Architectin- Residence and Head. Department of Architecture. 1978-1985 Printer: Michael Thomas. Cranbrook Academy of Art Folio Publisher: Architectural Association. London. England Lithograph (Artist's Proof) 30 1/4 x 22 1/4 inches Gift of the Artist CAM 1983.34 Chamber Works is one of a number of suites of drawings and prints created by Daniel Libeskind during his tenure as CAA architect-in-residence from 1978-1985. These works took the architectural community by storm in the early 1980s. In the precise and inhospitable spaces of Libeskind's drawings, many architects and critics (John Hejduk, Aldo Rossi, Hal Foster, Alvin Boyarsky, and Juhani Pallasmaa) saw the promise of a third path for architecture- an alternative to neo-avant garde modernism, with its overtones of mastery and dogma, and to the shoddy irony of postmodernism. Although Libeskind's drawings did not represent or specify constructible spaces, they were immediately understood as the sign and spirit of a possible architecture. Libeskind's ...

Amy Yoes – Hands Off, She’s Mine, 2001

Amy Yoes Hands Off, She's Mine, 2001 Born 1959. Heidelberg. Germany Oil and acrylic on linen 60 3/16 x 48 1/8 inches Gift of Stephen Earle in memory of Barbara Plamondon Earle CAM 2003.10 Amy Yoes conjures ebullient abstractions from the decora tive details of the material world. Baroque flourishes, gingham ruffles and calligraphic embellishments tangle within the fluid, heterogeneous space of her dynamic canvases, gleefully eroding any presumed hierarchy between high and low culture. Yoes draws her multifarious imagery from art, architecture, furniture, fashion and printed ephemera of diverse historical and cultural origins. Sketched and scanned into the computer for manipulation, the morphed imagery is then recombined into skillfully painted compositions. Our perceptual logic is challenged by the centrifugal fusion of these disparate visual motifs, a product of the creative interplay between imaginative draftsmanship and digital manipulation. The resulting formal and spatial mutation vividly symbolizes our evolving posttechnological con di ti on. Far from rendering the hand painted image irrelevant in the new millennium, the computer offers artists a new perspective on a world being dramatically transformed by technology. ...

Ed Rossbach – Ceremonial Vessel with Shells, 1991

Ed Rossbach Ceremonial Vessel with Shells, 1991 Born 1914. Chicago. Illinois; Cranbrook Academy of Art. MFA Department of Ceramics. 1947; died 2002. Berkeley. California Plaited ash splints and string with heat transfer and color xerography 9 3/4 x 8 x 8 inches Gift of Linda and Allan Ross and Arlene and Richard Selik CAM 1992.5 As an artist, educator and author, Rossbach succeeded in bringing critical attention to the fields of basketry, found-object art making, and non-loom weaving, making him one of the most significant figures in the history of fiber art. Rossbach began his career at Cranbrook, where he studied ceramics with Maija Grotell and weaving with Marianne Strengell, earning an MFA in 1947. Rossbach's study of the history and structural composition of textiles and baskets from a round the world informed the objects he made. Ceremonial Vessel with Shells, with its plaited wood structure and dramatic colored xerography, demonstrates Rossbach's interest in Japanese and African objects and his ability to distill these distinct cultural references into a singular and integrated artwork. His focus ...

Barbara Cooper – Spiritus, 1990

Barbara Cooper Spiritus, 1990 Born 1949, Philadelphia. Pennsylvania: Cranbrook Academy of Art. MFA. Department of Fiber. 1977 Oak and Babinga woods. interlaced and glued 65 1/4 x 19 1/2 x 23 inches Promised Gift of Drs. Joan and Bernard Chodorkoff T 2003.24 Barbara Cooper's sculptures wed form and content in an interlocking relationship. Technically, her sculptures from 1988 through 1995 are improvisational variations on three dimensional fiber techniques such as plaiting, in which Cooper freely manipulates strips of thin wood veneer in a repetitive over lapping process of layering and gluing to achieve undulating surfaces. Employing materials left over from furniture manufacturing, Cooper recycles and transforms these scraps of wood veneer into sensuous sculptural contemplations of time, growth and renewal. The involuted form of Spiritus merges a sense of protective armored strength with a mysterious inner fragility. A subs tan ti al sinewy mass of interwoven material forcefully spirals inward, enclosing and protecting a negative, shadowed recess. The dramatic play of light and shadow across the unadorned surface of wood heightens the contrast of interior and exterior, visible ...

Graham Marks – Untitled Vessel, 1991

Graham Marks Untitled Vessel, 1991 Born 1951 . New York. New York: Cranbrook Academy of Art. Artist-in-Residence and Head. Department of Ceramics. 1986-1992 Earthenware: coil construction and sandblasted 23 718 x 24 3/8 x 24 1/2 inches Academy Purchase for Cranbrook Art Museum and Partial Gift of the Artist to Cranbrook Academy of Art CAM 1991 .18 Graham Marks's early fascination with geology is evident in his geomorphic forms that take the shape of mysterious pods, eggs and geodes, all appearing to have been cracked open, as in Untitled Vessel . His work displays his interest in the interplay between inside and outside space, sometimes including just a crack to provide access to the inner sections of the forms. Marks often used the sandblasting process to layer his surfaces with further geological references. As in Untitled Vessel , Marks's increasing involvement with environmental issues was reflected in his work of the early nineties- the surfaces are darker, more agitated, often sooty, and with natural fissures in the tops. The frequent inclusion of scrap metal ...

Anne Wilson – Bull’s Roar, 1986

Anne Wilson Bull's Roar, 1986 Born 1949. Detroit. Michigan: Cranbrook Academy of Art. BFA. Department of Fiber. 1972 Stitched and painted synthetic felt and linen. with acrylic and alkyd paint 75 x 71 x 5 inches Gift of the Artist CAM 1994.61 Anne Wilson's visceral works examine issues related to nature, memory and the body. Em ploying both organic and synthetic materials that suggest skin or hair, her art also explores the histories and evocative qualities of materials. Between 1985 and 1991, Wilson created a series of wall-hung works that were inspired by animal skins. The monumental Bull's Roar is from this seminal Hide series. Made entirely from synthetic fibers and materials, Bull's Roar simulates the natural hide of an animal with a bristly and scarred surface marked by folds, wounds, fissures and patches of woven fur. The trace of a formidable animal's existence and demise is suggested in this seemingly fragile and distressed surface. Wilson imitates the natural world to poignantly express nature's delicacy, vulnerability and the passage of time. From the bristly synthetic furs and ...

John Coplans – Self Portrait (Back and Hands), 1984

John Coplans Sell Portrait (Back and Hands), 1984 Born. 1920. London. England; died 2003. New York. New York Silver gelatin print mounted on board (Edition: 6/6) 31 3/8 x 24 5/8 inches Partial and Promised Gift of Burt Aaron T 2003.27 Although John Coplans's work falls into the category of the male nude, it seems out of sync with the art world's youth oriented dynamic. This disconnect is in large part because Coplans began his artistic production when he was in his sixties and chose his own body as primary subject. In relation to most contemporary nudes, his work stands as a powerful address to questions of aging and death. Utilizing studio assistants, video monitors and Polaroid tests, Coplans has produced hundreds of precisely composed images that are ultimately a testament to the infinite possibilities of a single subject. Self Portrait (Back and Hands) is a subtle transformation of flesh into forms and tones. In addition, however, by concentrating on that part of the body that none of us can see directlythe back-he gives ...

Duane Hanson – Bodybuilder, designed 1989, executed 1992

Duane Hanson Bodybuilder, designed 1989, executed 1992 Born 1925. Alexandria. Minnesota: Cranbrook Academy of Art. MFA. Department of Sculpture. 1951: died 1996. Boca Raton. Florida Bronze. polychromed in oil. mixed media with accessories 48 112 x 35 x 70 112 inches (Edition: 3/3) Gift of the Artist and Lila and Gilbert Silverman with assistance from the lmerman Acquisition Fund CAM 1994.67 Duane Hanson believed that art was about life and realism best represented truth. During his forty-five-year-long career, Hanson created numerous highly mimetic sculptures of middleclass Americans, using both traditional materials, such as wood and plaster, and new industrial materials, such as polyester resin and fiberglass. A keen interest in everyday life links Hanson with Pop artists, while his ability to fool the eye is reminiscent of Photo-Realist painting. However, Hanson's art is different from both trends in its commitment to social and, in his earlier works, political issues. According to Hanson, his intention was "to confront people with themselves," not to trick them. Although Hanson worked with life casts of familiar individuals, he insisted that ...

James Surls

James Surls Long Distance, 1987 Born 1943. Terrell, Texas: Cranbrook Academy of Art. MFA. Department of Sculpture. 1969 Carved. burnt and sealed redwood and painted steel 123 x 110 x 108 inches Gift of James Surls with assistance from the lmerman Acquisition Fund CAM 1994.82 In a large studio in his native Texas, James Surls builds powerful, constructed forms of steel and wood. In Long Distance, the hanging, swirling sculpture references the hanging mobiles of Calder, but only in format, not in content. The organic gesture of the wooden leaf forms sprouting from the steel rods disrupts the mathematical symmetry of their structure, acknowledging both the inspiration of nature and Native American images. The drawn and burned eyes inside of the spiky leaves are similar in style to Northwest Coast native carved wooden masks and totems, and offer a potent animism that is embraced by traditional native cultures. There is also an element of ecological threat in the burned wooden leaves and their extrusion from cast metal stems. In both the carving and the drawing, ...

Donald Lipski – Building Steam No. 121, 1983

Donald Lipski Building Steam No. 121, 1983 Born 1947. Chicago. Illinois: Cranbrook Academy of Art. MFA. Department of Ceramics, 1973 Air filter. plasma bottle. metal cage, leather band and fluids 37 718 x 8 7/8 (diameter) inches Museum Purchase with funds from the Awards in the Visual Arts III Purchase Grant CAM 1985.1 Donald Lipski's sculpture is characterized by tension between disparate materials brought together in a new context, rendering alternate meanings through the sum of the parts. His use of found objects often generates metaphysical pressure cookers, where the evolution of time is felt as a force equal to the physical presence of the objects. Like his series Gathering Time and Passing Time, the Building Steam series continues to reference the compression and expansion of what we call time. A bottle for human plasma is filled with heavy particles suspended in liquid, trapped inside the metal cage of a boat lamp cover, all literally hung below the belt. The industrial language of materials under pressure-a paper filter held in by a metal screen held tight ...