Pre-eminent American sculptor Mark di Suvero is best known for his works made of industrial steel and salvaged materials that populate museum grounds, landscapes and urban environments around the world. His work is presented in the U-M Museum of Art exhibit “Mark diSuvero: Tabletops,” through Feb. 26 at the UMMA.
In addition to exhibitions and awards, in March di Suvero was honored with the National Medal of the Arts by President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony. The UMMA-organized exhibit features approximately 15 of di Suvero’s rarely exhibited smaller scale pieces, or tabletops, from the 1950s to the present.
The tabletops are not small models of larger-scale works but an expressionistic genre all their own, an outlet for exploring ideas relating to the calligraphic nature of form, balance, proportion and movement. Drawing from numerous private collections as well as the artist’s studio, the exhibition offers the opportunity to experience this work in the museum’s ground level, glass-walled Irving Stenn Jr., Family Project Gallery. It is adjacent to the two di Suvero outdoor steel sculptures on the museum’s grounds — “Orion” (2006) and “Shang” (1984-85).
Exhibit sponsors are the Office of the President, the U-M Health System, and Laura Lynch and Hugh McPherson.
