GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. April 28, 2003— Anthony Caro is universally recognized as one of the most important contemporary sculptors of our time. Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is honored to host Anthony Caro: The Emma Series. This much anticipated exhibition is the premier examination of his work in Michigan.

This exhibition will display ten of Caro’s large-scale sculptures. Among these, Emma Sail, Emma Gate, Emma Scribble, and Emma This—examples of how his sculpture contains space, an important aspect of Caro’s style. Ceiling Piece A and Ceiling Piece D, twisted and bent rods that hang from the ceiling, and Table Piece (four), a genre which Caro invented to have the sculpture relate to the table’s edge as much as to its surface.

Joseph Becherer, Director and Curator of the Sculpture Program at the Gardens, describes the sculptures as "bound by the innovative use of materials and the open, calligraphic nature of their forms."

Born in 1924, Anthony Caro studied engineering before working under Henry Moore, Britain’s most famous and revered sculptor, and came into public attention for the first time in 1963 at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.

The sculptures he displayed were large, abstract, brightly painted and stood directly on the ground. It was a dramatic departure from the way sculpture had ever looked, and he is considered a pioneer in three-dimensional art.

Before Caro, when sculpture was displayed upright or reclined, it usually rested on a base or plinth to support it, which made the sculpture look more utilitarian than aesthetic. Caro’s sculpture moved away from those constraints, creating self-supported sculptures.

Anthony Caro was knighted by the Queen of England in 1987 and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Sculpture in 1997. He also holds several honorary degrees from universities in the UK, Europe, and the United States.

"Hosting the Emma Series at the Gardens is a great honor as it is Michigan’s first exhibition of Anthony Caro’s work," said Brent Dennis, executive director at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. "We have worked closely with Anthony over the last two years to ensure a fabulous showing of his work, and he couldn’t have been a more gracious person to work with."

The Emma Series was constructed in the 1970s, and was inspired by Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, and David Smith. He named the series after the Emma Lakes in Saskatchewan, Canada, where he held a two-week artist workshop. The camp was remote, and the sculptures had to be made with minimal amounts of steel and lifting equipment. Out of these conditions and his willing, eager participants, The Emma Series was born.

Caro was enthused with his eager crew. Terry Fenton, a participant of the artist workshop and an author of an Anthony Caro biography, recalls Caro’s willingness to involve the opinions of the group.

"Caro had always worked with assistants, but at Emma Lake, he had a host of participants willing to work and learn. His practice, as a result, at times seemed closer to film production rather than traditional art making, with Caro, an energetic director/producer, leading a crew drawn from attending artists—both painters and sculptors."

"Listen to comments, watch reactions, use other eyes, as many as you can—these lessons exemplified everything that Caro did at the workshop."

Caro used Picasso’s Construction in Wire and Woman in a Garden as an example of drawing in space. He wanted sculpture to have the look of being poised and weightless.

Caro thought of Picasso as the father of assemblage, of steel sculpture, and of drawing in space. Caro very much wanted the Emma Lake workshop to be all about "drawing in space," and to start a new mode of sculpture that was different from modeling or carving.

The different mode of sculpture was accomplished that week at Emma Lakes. Sculptures were made from scrap materials, such as rods, pipes, and plate. Terry Fenton describes one of these pieces, Emma Sail, as looking "effortless and correct."

"Although the sculpture rests on four points, in no way does it suggest furniture or architecture. Poised and erect, it is classic in its construction. Harmonious, its geometrical plates are echoed by similar shapes drawn allusively in air."

The concept of drawing in space was not a new idea in sculpture when Anthony Caro did it in 1977. The difference of Caro’s pieces was that they drew through space and contained it. They are freestanding transparent objects that are reminiscent of Picasso’s wire sculptures, but different because Caro did not use human characteristics in his sculptures like Picasso did. Caro was an illusionist, where those sculptors before him were symbolists.

The Emma Series exhibition will have educational activities available for children and adults to further explore the world of Anthony Caro.

Anthony Caro: The Emma Series is another example of the world-class exhibitions Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park secures in its sculpture galleries. In combination with the Meijer Sculpture Park, the Gardens is a top destination for sculpture enthusiasts.

The 125-acre Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park features Michigan's largest tropical conservatory; the nation's largest carnivorous plant house; desert and Victorian gardens; outdoor gardens; the Midwest's most comprehensive outdoor sculpture collection and indoor galleries with changing sculpture exhibitions, featuring world-class works by Rodin, Oldenburg, Moore, and others, as well as a café and gift shops.

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