Nancy Rubins

MoMA and Airplane Parts 1995 that visited Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain 2002/2003 then visited Forte Belvedere in 2003 and is now at SculptureCenter

SculptureCenter is pleased to present a solo exhibition by esteemed contemporary sculptor Nancy Rubins. Commissioned through SculptureCenter's Artist-in-Residence program, Nancy Rubins will transform SculptureCenter's main space with a new installation. Nancy Rubins: MoMA and Airplane Parts that visited Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain 2002/2003 then visited Forte Belvedere in 2003 and is now at SculptureCenter will be on view September 10 - November 18, 2006 with an opening reception on Sunday, September 10th 4-6pm.

For SculptureCenter Nancy Rubins will use airplane parts in a configuration specifically adapted to SculptureCenter¹s main space. Rubins will reconfigure parts of a work dating from 1995, furthering her ongoing study of form and her practice of reutilizing materials. What were once discarded materials are gathered, assembled, de-installed, stored and reassembled. With each new set of parameters, a new configuration is possible. The title of the resulting piece presented this fall translates this approach: each sculpture gains from its overlapped history, while recreating a new set of circumstances from which it is inseparable. Rubins will also be presenting a site-specific artwork, Big Pleasure Point, at Lincoln Center in New York in association with the Public Art Fund, on view through September 4, 2006.

"Nancy has been hugely influential in West Coast sculpture and we are thrilled to show her work here in New York," said Executive Director Mary Ceruti. "Following her Lincoln Center project this summer, this exhibition provides New Yorkers a special opportunity to consider her work and particularly the way she engages architectural space."

Nancy Rubins has been working on a gargantuan scale since the early 1980s, responding to public commissions and art exhibitions alike. Her research on structure and materials led her to start working with mattresses and airplane parts, as seen in works such as 150 Baltimore Mattresses (1987) and Topanga Tree and Mr. Huffman's Airplane Parts (1987-89), as well as mobile homes, heavy water heaters, and boats. Each sculptural variation is the result of careful engineering and planning: they seem to defy gravity while retaining their ability to crystallize implosions and explosions of form. Also notable are her large format assembled monochromatic drawings that retain sculptural texture while refusing to be contained to just one wall, spreading over ground and corners. During the last decade, Nancy Rubins' work has continued to gain momentum, while demonstrating a heightened mastery of visual and structural complexity.

Nancy Rubins was born in Naples, Texas, and lives and works in Topanga Canyon, California. Her solo exhibitions include Projects 49: Nancy Rubins at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1995), as well as recently commissioned works at Lincoln Center, New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego (both 2006). Her work was also included in renowned international exhibitions such as Unknown Quantity, curated by French philosopher Paul Virilio at the Fondation Cartier, Paris (2003) and Helter Skelter: L.A. Art of the 1990s at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1992). Her work is part of the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. She is represented by Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York and Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles.

SculptureCenter's Artist-in-Residence program was initiated in 1987 with an installation by Petah Coyne. Artists who have participated in the program since then include Robert Chambers, Charles Goldman, Rona Pondick, Beverly Semmes, Olav Westphalen, Ayse Erkmen, Anya Gallaccio and others.

The Nancy Rubins exhibition is presented through SculptureCenter's Artist-in-Residence program, funded by grants from The Kraus Family Foundation, The Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and generous anonymous donors.

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Nancy Rubins