February 8–May 4, 2014
Weatherspoon Art Museum
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Spring Garden and Tate Streets, PO Box 26170
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170
The Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro is pleased to present the exhibition Nancy Rubins: Drawing, Sculpture, Studies, from February 8 to May 4. Nancy Rubins is known for her large-scale commissioned sculptures composed of boats and airplane parts as well as for her extraordinary graphite drawings—all elegant forms that adventurously confront gravity and transform materials into objects of extraordinary visual beauty.
The exhibition, co-curated by Weatherspoon Director Nancy Doll and Curator of Exhibitions Xandra Eden, is the first to explore the relationships among Rubins’s work in various media and includes the major sculptural installation Drawings & Hot Water Heaters (1991–95), large-scale graphite drawings (dating from 1975 to the present), collages, bronzes, and studies for major outdoor commissions, accompanied by short films by Michael Rudnick that document the fascinating process of their installation.
Among the works that brought Rubins early recognition are monumental drawings made of heavy paper coated with graphite. Constructed in parts, these works “perform”: cantilevering from walls and ceilings, wrapping around corners, and twisting in balletic movement, they defy the usual parameters of their genre and convey contradictory impressions of mass and lightness. In wizardly and paradoxical fashion, Rubins’s large-scale installations make bulky, pre-fabricated boats and plane parts seem delicate and nearly weightless. Further characterizing her work are a co-mingling of the muscular and the graceful and the combination of formal muster and conceptual wit.
Rubins’s work has been discussed in terms of the environment, recycling, and consumerism but in the end it defies categorization. In her essay for the exhibition catalogue, noted art critic and author Nancy Princenthal points out that Rubins does not set out to make literal statements about these topical issues but, rather, strikes “a practiced balance between sublime disaster and joyful regeneration.”
“This is one of the largest projects the Weatherspoon has ever taken on,” comments director Nancy Doll. “We feel privileged to have worked closely with Nancy Rubins, her assistants, and galleries in realizing such a major effort that gives long overdue attention to an artist whose work holds a significant place in the realm of contemporary sculpture and has had a huge impact on the work of numerous other artists.”
Nancy Rubins: Drawing, Sculpture, Studies is accompanied by a 168-page catalogue that includes reproductions of all works in the exhibition, as well as her early work, public commissions, important installations, and numerous other drawings, studies and collages. Co-published by DelMonico Books/Prestel, the monograph features essays by Nancy Princenthal and Nancy Doll, and an interview with the artist by Xandra Eden.
Nancy Rubins earned her BFA from The Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore, and her MFA from the University of California, Davis. She has received numerous awards and major commissions including Monochrome for Paris, Université de Paris Diderot (2013); Big Edge, CityCenter, Las Vegas (2009); Big Pleasure Point, Lincoln Center, New York (2006); and Pleasure Point, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art (2006). Rubins was born in Naples, Texas, and lives and works in Topanga, California. She is represented by Gagosian Gallery.
Nancy Rubins: Drawing, Sculpture, Studies is made possible through the support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, Dedalus Foundation, Inc., Gail Boulton, Jane and Richard Levy, the North Carolina Arts Council (a division of the Department of Cultural Resources), Fifth Floor Foundation, Proximity Hotel, and the Weatherspoon Art Museum Association.
Contact:
Loring Mortensen, Weatherspoon Art Museum
T +1 336 256 1451 / [email protected]
