A Life in Sculpture: The Kenwood Series, a group of thirteen sculptures in wood, metal, stone and clay, will begin its three-city tour organized by Garth Clark on August 27, 2005 at the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Claremont, California. Scripps will hold a public reception for the event on Saturday, September 17 featuring a talk by art critic, and leading authority on Caro’s work, Karen Wilkin. It moves to Bentley Projects, Phoenix opening on November 20, and lastly a selection of these works will be shown at Garth Clark Gallery on 57^th Street, New York from May 14, 2006 to July 16. 

 

The title gives little insight to the works, named for Kenwood House in London where this series was first shown. The sculptures are a diverse group, exploring many themes. But the main aura is one of domestic nostalgia that pervades the work, a surprisingly intimate subject for Caro given the epic themes he has pursued recently in his major touring exhibitions; The Trojan War (1996), The Last Judgment (2000,)  and The Barbarians (2004.)

 

The Kenwood Series shifts the drama from the mythic and the military (Gods, heroes, angels and the Mongol hoards) to the seemingly mundane. At least nominally, these sculptures are chairs, tables, cabinets, pantries, and doorways, all overseen by Witness, a huge matriarchal figure weighing many tons. Witness will join the exhibition from IVAM, Valencia were it is part of the retrospective honoring “Britain’s greatest living sculptor.” The retrospective originally shown at the Tate Britain, London, celebrates the artist’s 80^th birthday, his extraordinary oeuvre and his lasting formative, impact on contemporary sculpture.

 

This work continues Caro’s fictile fascination. Caro has been working actively in this medium, both alone and in multi-media work, for just over thirty years now beginning with his participation in 1974-75 in Syracuse University’s New Works in Clay project that brought him and other painters and sculptors to ceramics. The ceramic elements in Kenwood were made at the studio of Hans Spinner in Grasse on the French Riviera. Spinner has made a life’s work of partnering artists who want to work in ceramics and his group includes, aside from Caro, the late Eduardo Chillida, Antonio Tapies, James Brown, and Pierre Alechinsky.

 

A hardcover book on the Kenwood series, Anthony Caro: A Life in Sculpture by Julius Bryant, is available from all three venues at $25.00 plus handling and shipping. For further information and for photography please contact Paul Booth at paul@garthclark.com or call 212.246.2205.