Barry Le Va, Whose Floor-Bound Art Defied Boundaries, Dies at 79
Extolling horizontality, he made sculptures from felt, flour, glass sheets and even meat cleavers. Elsewhere, in a performance piece, his body was a sprinting projectile.
Barry Le Va in 1972 installing a sculpture at Documenta, the contemporary art show in Germany. He made sculptures only for public display, never in his studio.Credit.Estate of Barry Le Va, courtesy David Nolan Gallery
Published Feb. 22, 2021Updated Feb. 27, 2021
Barry Le Va, a sculptor who never bowed to the conventions of his medium, opting instead for temporary arrangements of ephemeral materials like felt and flour spread across the floor and, more flamboyantly, for works made by hurling meat cleavers, bricks and even his own body at walls, died on Jan. 24 in hospice care in the Bronx. He was 79.
Photo: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/Polaris
Madison Dabalos, 18, left, and Ixchel Cisneros, 18, wearing face masks walk back to their dorms takeout breakfast from Gastronome at Cal State Fullerton on Aug. 21, 2020.
Photo: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/Polaris
Madison Dabalos, 18, left, and Ixchel Cisneros, 18, wearing face masks walk back to their dorms takeout breakfast from Gastronome at Cal State Fullerton on Aug. 21, 2020.
January 15, 2021
The U.S. Department of Education released $21.2 billion Thursday as part of the coronavirus relief legislation Congress and President Trump approved in December to help colleges and universities nationally. Of that amount, more than $2.83 billion will go to public and private California colleges and universities.