The exhibition Alina Szapocznikow / Nairy Baghramian forges a dialog, for the very first time, between two distinctive renowned sculptors whose practices are rooted in an exploration of the body. Surveying the tension between the corporal, mechanical, and biomorphic, the works of these two artists raise questions of touch, pleasure, pain, trauma, and the abject. Organized on occasion of the centenary of Szapocznikow’s birth, the show brings together a representative selection of Szapocznikow’s work across sculpture, drawing, printmaking, and photography, shown alongside recent sculptures, from Baghramian’s Scruff of the Neck (2016) series.
Szapocznikow and Baghramian are bound by a shared investment in the human form, and its fragmentation, disassembly, and abstraction. Szapocznikow’s sculptures, which often include casts of her own body as well as of friends and family, maintain the recognizability of the human figure. Baghramian, on the other hand, harnesses abstraction to create bulbous and lumpy anthropomorphic sculptures that might suggest an extremity, such as a leg or thigh. While Szapocznikow isolates elements of the body, Baghramian frequently turns to corrective devices such as braces and prostheses, drawing attention to how the body is supported, corrected, and held in place. Both artists share a fascination with squishy materials such as polyurethane, polyester resin, and rubber, that render the body plastic, pliable and liquid. Highly tactile and textured, these artists’ works remind us of the profound fragility and vulnerability of the human body.
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