Lori Bookstein Fine Art is pleased to announce an exhibition of recent sculpture by John Crawford. This is the artist's first solo show with the gallery.
This exhibition presents several series of forged and machined steel and copper sculptures ranging in scale from table-top to over life-size. Each sculpture is built up using similar units which accrete into complex forms. These sculptures exemplify different modalities of Crawford’s long-standing interest in structure, which began in 1976 with an apprenticeship forging farm tools. He has explored natural and architectural forms and currently addresses loosely mathematical patterns of growth.
The exhibition will include four distinct bodies of work: bifurcations, towers, pinecones and accretions. The artist’s sculptures derive an intriguing degree of complexity from the accumulation of simple forms that attests to the artist’s years of practice in the studio and the forge, his knowledge of form, and a love of natural and man-made structure.
Mona Hadler, in her catalogue essay, states:
Comprised of multiple shapes, derived from muscle memory (like farm tools) they conjure the recurring and complex patterns in the natural word. Made from the fires of the forge, his pieces suggest more gentle rhythms in nature. It is in the subtle resolution of these oppositions that Crawford’s practice resides.
John Crawford (b. 1953, New York) received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1975. In 1976 he moved to Italy where he apprenticed at a blacksmith shop in rural Tuscany until 1986. He has been included in numerous exhibitions including solo shows at the Queens College Art Center, Flushing, NY and the Sculpture Center, New York. Crawford has also been commissioned to create public works for Amherst College, Amherst, MA and Queens College, Flushing, NY. He is a recipient of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant. Trips to western Africa and Korea in 2001 and 2006 introduced Crawford to new and significant influences. The artist lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
John Crawford will be on view from April 24 – May 24, 2014. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, April 24th from 6-8 pm. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10:30 am to 6:00 pm. A full-color catalog is available. For additional information and/or visual materials, please contact the gallery at (212) 750-0949 or by email at info@loribooksteinfineart.