Masterfully constructed from countless interlocking loops of metal wire, the biomorphic forms in Ruth Asawa’s Untitled (S.467, Hanging Four-Lobed Continuous Form with a Sphere in the Second Lobe) are breathtaking in their formal complexity and unbridled playfulness. A particularly rare and historic example, Untitled (S.467) was executed in 1951 and hails from Asawa’s most acclaimed and beloved body of work. The sculpture’s mesmerizing lattice of undulating orbs illustrates the artist’s impressively deft understanding of form and space—blurring distinctions between interior and exterior, weight and weightlessness, as well as positive and negative space. Composed of four evenly distinct lobes, the present work is particularly noteworthy for its delicate compositional balance and elegant combination of copper and brass wire that result in spectacular brilliance. The dexterity of her formal execution—in Robert Storr's words, Asawa was a creator of "exquisite spatial paradoxes"—seen in Untitled (S.467) speaks further to her remarkable capacity to channel the harmonious unity inherent to organic matter for which her artistic practice is renowned
Born in California to Japanese immigrant farmers, Asawa’s artistic development and achievement are inextricably linked to the racial and political environment of 1940s America. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the sixteen-year-old Asawa and her family were separated and forced into internment camps along with thousands of other Japanese Americans. During her incarceration at the Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia, California, and the Rohwer Relocation Center in Arkansas, Asawa took drawing lessons from fellow internees who had previously worked as animators for Walt Disney Studios. Asawa eventually enrolled as an art student at the legendary Black Mountain College in 1946, where, over the next three years, she studied alongside faculty and students that included such luminaries as Willem and Elaine de Kooning and Robert Rauschenberg, Merce Cunningham, Buckminster Fuller and, most notably, Josef Albers. Of all her tutors, it was Albers’ emphasis on Bauhaus principles of formalism rooted in materiality, and the assertion of traditional crafts as valid artistic methods that proved to be the generative point of Asawa’s career.
The Contemporary Curated Auction, presented in partnership with Silversea, will take place in New York on 27 September 2024.
