Elizabeth Turk Tensions

Hirschl & Adler Modern has been honored to represent Elizabeth Turk for the past 15 years and to present her most ambitious projects. In "Collars" (2006), "Ribbons and Pinwheels" (2008), "Cages" (2012), and "Script" (2014), Turk pushed the limits of her chosen medium of marble with hand-carved forms that defy their materiality while speaking to larger conceptual and spiritual concerns.

"Tensions", Turk’s newest body of work, is a multi-media installation inspired by ideas initiated in her recent solo exhibition at the Laguna Art Museum. With 25 new works spread over three rooms, Turk moves her formal language forward into unchartered territory. By juxtaposing her signature hand-carved white and black marble sculptures with unworked “philosopher” stones and sections of a centuries-old redwood root system, she creates an environment that investigates the balance—and tension—between man-made and natural, material and concept.

Turk encourages us to consider how nature has shaped these materials long before the artist’s manipulation of them into new forms. When viewed as components in a complex natural system, their singular beauty and inherent mystery is revealed. This body of work is less about individual sculptures standing alone, and more about the sum of their parts. Turk compels us to view works of art not only as objects to be coveted and collected, but also as expressions of the natural world and our evolving relation to it.

Elizabeth Turk (b. 1961) received her MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art, Rinehart School of Sculpture in 1994 and moved to New York City. She has been represented by Hirschl and Adler Modern since 1999. In 2010 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship and the Annalee & Barnett Newman Foundation award. Her work can be found in numerous public collections including The Corcoran Museum of Art (Washington, DC); The National Museum for Women in the Arts (Washington, DC); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA); and The Mint Museum (Charlotte, NC), among others. In 2014, The Laguna Art Museum (Laguna, CA) hosted "Elizabeth Turk: Sentient Forms", a mid-career survey of the artist’s work. Turk splits her time between New York City and her native Orange County, CA.

Elizabeth Turk "Tensions" opens on Thursday, September 17 and runs through Saturday, October 24, 2015. Located in the landmark Crown Building at the world-famous corner of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, Hirschl & Adler Modern is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 9:30 am to 5:15 pm.

This exhibition is accompanied by a 24-page catalogue, with 21 full-color illustrations and an essay by Dan Cameron.