Although I had seen photos of Magdalena Abakanowicz’s work back in 1980, Every Tangle of Thread and Rope, the exhibition at Tate Modern was the first time I had experienced any of it in reality.
Whoa, these sculptures (Abakans) are big. It was difficult to keep my hands off them – I so wanted to be enveloped.
There’s a primal quality to them, reminding us that we all come from the same source.
Her drawings show how the practice of connecting the hand and eye with the brain is an essential way to develop ideas, to test things out.
This tangle of wire envelopes a creature’s horn, like some kind of protective pupae, just waiting for the right time to emerge. Or is it mummified?
Later in her career she made site-specific public sculptures in bronze and wood. Visit her website to learn more.
