2012.20.6.A–E, Kishio Suga, Soft Concrete, 1970/2012 | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

For Kishio Suga, a Mono-ha artist, sculptures begin to function after they are installed. The artist aims to strip materials of their connotations and present them in a way that forces the viewer to consider form, or what is literally visible, over idea. In Soft Concrete, Suga subverts our presumptions of materials like steel walls and concrete. The walls are not containing the concrete, and the concrete— associated with impenetrability and hardness—is a molten hill. The “soft concrete” is actually a mixture of oil and cement, and would take over a year to harden. Its plasticity and apparent spillage into the room are an affirmation of its presence in the space, and incorporate the space into the moment of engagement between the viewer and the sculpture.

Excerpt from

Anna Katherine Brodbeck, ed., TWO X TWO X TWENTY: Two Decades Supporting Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art), 2018.

NOTES

did not get object file, no provenance, no TMS work, HAB

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Apply to objects where number equals 2012.20.6.A–E

General Description

For Kishio Suga, a Mono-ha artist, sculptures begin to function after they are installed. The artist aims to strip materials of their connotations and present them in a way that forces the viewer to consider form, or what is literally visible, over idea. In Soft Concrete, Suga subverts our presumptions of materials like steel walls and concrete. The walls are not containing the concrete, and the concrete— associated with impenetrability and hardness—is a molten hill. The “soft concrete” is actually a mixture of oil and cement, and would take over a year to harden. Its plasticity and apparent spillage into the room are an affirmation of its presence in the space, and incorporate the space into the moment of engagement between the viewer and the sculpture.