Monolith mania comes to Chelsea
Michael Manfredi takes a photo of Ptolemys Wedge II by Beverly Pepper at the exhibition Between the Earth and Sky at the Kasmin Gallery, New York, Jan. 23, 2021. The handsome and inordinately timely group show brings together 22 works, some recent, some quite old, all of them billed as monolithic sculptures. Nina Westervelt/The New York Times.
by Deborah Solomon
(NYT NEWS SERVICE)
.- I dont blame you if you never want to hear the word monolith again. It was certainly one of the most misused terms of 2020. It officially means one stone (mono for one and lith for stone or carving, from the Greek word lithos) and was pressed into overtime last fall when social media was inundated by reports of mystery monoliths.
Kasmin opens an exhibition of twenty-two monolithic sculptures spanning from 900 A.D. to 2019
Installation view. Photo: Diego Flores.
NEW YORK, NY
.-Kasmin is presenting Between the Earth and Sky, an exhibition of twenty-two monolithic sculptures that brings together examples of the form spanning from 900 A.D. to 2019. The presentation demonstrates how stelae, herms, and columns have acted as repositories of meaning or markers of time and place across many cultures since prehistory, as well as the way in which the expressive possibilities of this format continue to resonate with sculptors working internationally today. Be they analogues for the human form, waypoints, sentinels, support structures, memorials or otherwise, their metaphorical and formal potency abides.