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The Arts Intel Report

Ruth Asawa: Retrospective

Ruth Asawa with one of her hanging wire sculptures, circa 1957.

151 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA

“All my wire sculptures come from the same loop,” said the American sculptor Ruth Asawa (1926–2013). “And there’s only one way to do it. The idea is to do it simply, and you end up with a shape.” One of seven children born to Japanese immigrants in Norwalk, California, Osawa experienced the Japanese American internment during W.W. II with the rest of her family. She emerged from it unscathed and decided to study teaching. But in 1946, she changed direction and headed to Black Mountain College, in North Carolina, where she started weaving the wire sculptures that would make her name. Floating and ethereal, they suggest single-cell organisms, molecular complexity. Asawa later worked in brass, iron, and copper, and created cast sculptures. This exhibition includes more than 300 pieces by Asawa, as well as works by artists with whom she had affinities, such as Josef Albers and Imogene Cunningham. There is a special focus on Asawa’s home and garden as central to her artistic practice. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: © Imogen Cunningham Trust and Estate of Ruth Asawa/David Zwirner Gallery