Spectacular and sinuous, Ann Weber’s large-scale sculptures create a mythic world, one that viewers step within and explore as if moving through a strange and lovely forest of anthropomorphic shapes.
Created entirely from cardboard strips, the sculptures are woven from discarded boxes, stapled, and coated with polyurethane. Weber’s palette is bold, combining white strips with bright streaks of yellow, green, red, blue, and alternating patterns of black and white. Some pieces are partially suspended from the gallery’s ceiling, while others stand as sentinels reminiscent of the rock formations in Big Sur or Central Oregon.
Weber’s Horses depicts a pair of large abstract sculptures in conversation—their forms as sensual and curved as they are large. Somewhat more diminutive, Sandy resembles a vibrantly multi-covered musical note. Suspended from the ceiling like a top ready to twirl, with sharply delicate points on either end, her Solo Traveler exudes a sense of power and motion.
Also partially suspended, the three-part sculpture Trinity is a massive work. Each piece seems to balance and spin on the other. The top-most includes two round holes recalling worn-away rock formations and Bryce Canyon hoodoos. These works contrast with wall works such as Happiest Days of Our Lives # 47-52, steeped in color, the rich shapes seem to dance together, and with Weber’s colorful collage works that shine in jewel-like hues.
Perhaps most astonishing are the two monolithic, boulder-like shapes in the titular O What Fools These Mortals Be, I and II, which stand as stalwart guardians, aching with silent watchfulness, destined to outlive us and our foibles. They are the intricate inverse of each other, yin and yang, one primarily black with white interlacing and thin ribbons of gold and blue; the other white with black, together forming compelling patterns that surprise with their complex connection. The size of these works, and the lovely twinned elements of their design both contribute to their stand-out impressiveness.
To enter the artist’s extraordinary exhibition is to walk into a monumental landscape, astonishingly detailed in creation, neither fully abstract nor representational, imaginatively curated to shape a mysterious and magical space.
I am so looking forward to seeing Ann’s exhibition on Friday December 22 for the talk. Having champagne and popcorn will heighten our visual and intellectual experience I am sure! Can’t wait!
I am so looking forward to seeing Ann’s exhibition on Friday December 22 for the talk. Having champagne and popcorn will heighten our visual and intellectual experience I am sure! Can’t wait! Thank you Genie for this review!
You’re so welcome 🙂
O Genie. You are such an exquisite writer. That opening sentence is such a zinger. I have so much respect and admiration for a writer like you. To be able to create images with words is such an art. You made the sculptures come alive. Thank you.