![]() ![]() There is a lot of art history in the show. All three have been using plaster for more than 30 years. Agostini (perhaps the great American virtuoso of plaster). Segal (particularly his classical subjects and his early interest in anti-classical form) Manuel Neri (whose female figures have the smooth and chipped textures of marble), and Mr. Prime place in the exhibition is given to Mr. In short, the emergence of plaster as a primary artistic material reflects both the need for memory and tradition and the continuing radical effort to bring attention and respect to aspects of art and history that have been condemned or ignored. It was only with sculptors like Rodin and Carpeaux, who had a feeling for the movement and instability of modern life, that the cheap and impermanent material of plaster began to be valued for its own sake. It was identified with copying masterpieces, or it was a means of working out sculptural ideas that would then be realized in a serious - in other words permanent - material like marble or bronze. Before the 20th century, plaster was largely perceived as a secondary material. If plaster is associated with tradition, however, its rise to prominence owes a good deal to the modernist impulse. She points out that plaster was widely used for the first time during the 19th century, when drawing from plaster casts became a basic part of academic training. She suggests the role plaster has played in funerary sculpture and fresco painting. ![]() ![]() Matilsky of the Queens Museum notes that painted plaster sculpture dates back at least as far as 7000 B.C. The current uses of and approaches to plaster are very much rooted in its history. The show is definitely not the last word on its subject. But there are too many artists for the relatively small space, the show's definition of ''expressionist surface'' is so broad that it could include just about anything, and the selection seems to have been made too much on the basis of diversity. It gives a clear idea of the importance of plaster and of the kind of sensuous, process-oriented, hands-on art that is always being made outside the mainstream. Throughout the show, from Peter Agostini's sassy, sarcastic, yet occasionally noble ''Ghost Horse'' to Ray Rapp's video monitors of plaster gurgling, flowing or oozing, there is a sense that with plaster, anything is possible. Others, like Robert Van Vranken, who coats plywood with plaster and then uses it as a ground for billboardlike paintings, are still emerging. Some of the artists, like George Segal, are well established. The 16 artists in the show all like plaster in the kind of profound but nevertheless easy and unforced way that is not possible with such mystique-laden materials as marble and clay. It also suggests why plaster can arouse strong feelings of affection and distaste. With its modeled, carved, cast and rolled plaster, with its plaster boulders, tapestries, mannequins and horses, the exhibition suggests the many ways the material is now being used in sculpture, painting and installations. ''The Expressionist Surface: Contemporary Art in Plaster,'' at the Queens Museum, calls attention to the current prominence of plaster. ![]()
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