Two of John Chamberlain’s monumental aluminum foil works will be installed at LongHouse Reserve from April 2017 until October 2018.

FROSTYDICKFANTASY (2008) and PINEAPPLESURPRISE (2010) are among the later sculptures produced during the artist’s sixty-year career. As much as 15 feet in height, the works are constructed from silver and copper colored industrial aluminum, which has been looped and flexed into whimsical, biomorphic forms. The sculptures will be situated within the gardens, emphasizing their formal connection to the wildness of  nature.  In 2007, Chamberlain began successfully transposing miniature, aluminum models into durable materials on a grand scale, but without sacrificing any of the lightness, directness, and spontaneity of the earlier versions. Although he used materials other than his signature “art supply” of discarded metal car parts, these sculptures consistently reflected his lifelong concern with what he described as “fit.” The intricately tangled and woven parts ultimately resolve themselves in balanced, cohesive structures. The titles of the sculptures are also amalgamations, consistent with Chamberlain’s longtime interest in language play. Capitalization, puns, nonsensical words, and sexual innuendos proliferate throughout his naming structure that makes use of an off-beat humor and personal references.

The works are loaned by the Estate of John Chamberlain and Gagosian Gallery.

www.johnchamberlain.com

© 2017 Fairweather & Fairweather LTD/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy Gagosian