bodies of resilience | gary kuehn

Gary Kuehn (*1939, New Jersey, US), whose extensive oeuvre includes sculptures, paintings, collages and drawings, is one of the most famous representatives of Process Art, which radically changed the concept of art in the 1960s. In his sculptures, Kuehn questions the authority of the material and thus explores the field of tension between limitation and freedom. With an enormous sense of materiality and a craftsmanlike knowledge of its properties, it has been simple forms such as circles, squares, and triangles since the beginning of his career that, in conjunction with his interest in craft and industrial materials such as wood, metal, plaster, polyester, plexiglass, aluminum, and steel, have formed the basis of his artistic investigations. The geometric forms are often exposed to the deforming forces of mass or kinetic energy, spatially displaced, knotted or pushed, whereby Kuehn always generates an emotional value in his formally abstract works.

Photo: Andrea Stappert

At the center of the exhibition is the two-part sculpture Untitled (1969), which combines elements of the work series Box Pieces and Mattress Pieces and confronts the viewer with its own physicality. In the Box Pieces, the wooden crate stands as a stabilizing structure that surrounds something, with the artist playing with the tension between supporting and enclosing. The Mattress Pieces are in turn characterized by the integration of mattresses, as elements of everyday life, but also as soft, malleable bodies that can refer to the vulnerability of human existence. Kuehn adapts this form and transfers the softness of the objects into rigid fiberglass. The same yellow rectangular fiberglass body on the right appears to be deformable, its geometric properties loosening and dissolving. On the left, it is encased in a wooden box, which is both a containment and a support. Questions about resilience and social structures are raised as Kuehn explores the nature of the sculptural body and the vulnerability of structures that can be translated into psychological states and emotions. His gestural drawings and paintings also test the physical limits and freedom of thought.

The same yellow rectangular fiberglass body on the right appears to be deformable, its geometric properties loosening and dissolving. On the left, it is encased in a wooden box, which is both a containment and a support. Questions about resilience and social structures are raised as Kuehn explores the nature of the sculptural body and the vulnerability of structures that can be translated into psychological states and emotions. His gestural drawings and paintings also test the physical limits and freedom of thought.

The sculpture The Provisionals (1969) consists of an aluminum band and a steel ring, fastened together with clamps. The aluminum bends in this act, seemingly trying to escape the steel mold, but is held in place by pressure against the rigid base. The resilience of the material creates a visual expression analogous to the physical constraint from which a part tries to break free. Gary Kuehn repeatedly uses the geometry of the circle, subjecting it to various deformations to address deviations from the norm or societal pressures. The contrast between free choice and predetermined events becomes a fundamental idea in his work. 

The artist describes these works as a synthesis of matter and narrative, taking place on a physical, material level as well as on a universal, metaphorical level — love and hate, life and death, etc. The sculpture also illustrates Kuehn's physical engagement and fascination with material behavior. The result is a synthesis of simple physical phenomena and easily understood forms that convey complex mental states, merging material reality with metaphorical meaning in The Provisionals.

Installation view Galerie Rolf Ricke (1969) | Photo: Archive Rolf Ricke

The drawings are studies for Kuehn's sculptural series Melt Piece, in which seemingly rigid and stable forms undergo the process of melting. Kuehn captures the moment in which geometry liquefies, thereby making a statement against the strict forms of Minimal Art. His early post-minimalist approach emphasizes processuality and opens up space for emotions and sensuality in the reception of his art. Although Kuehn develops his sculptures from the strict language of his precursors, they also illustrate his personal interest in psychology and human experience. The subject of free creation, the exploration of boundaries and constraints, as well as one's own physicality in relation to others is immanent in all the works of the Melt Pieces. Flowing and organic parts symbolize the desire to undermine the absolute form of Minimal Art in favor of a more emotional approach. The material itself is given the task of revealing the internal meanings of the works through its texture.

In Gary Kuehn's Black Painting (1969) and Untitled (1970), the geometric shapes of the circle and square do not seem to match the size of the canvas. The painted shape seems to extend beyond the edges of the canvas, or rather the canvas seems to withdraw at certain points and find its own form. Like a game between autonomy and power, both elements follow their own wills which run counter to each other. Kuehn awakens a feeling of anxiety and questions the role of the canvas in relation to the pictorial subject.

The Drill Drawings are a series of works in which Kuehn consciously relinquishes control and raises questions of autonomy. He uses brushes as attachments for a drill and allows the machine's power to determine the path of the black paint across the paper. The boundary between artist and machine becomes blurred and it is unclear whether Kuehn's body becomes the stabilizing tool of the drill or whether he directs the machine itself. In contrast to Kuehn's Gesture Project, in which the limits of his own body raise questions about freedom, the Drill Drawings reveal a gestural movement that is seemingly detached from subjective will. 

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