NEW YORK, NY.- The Allan Stone Gallery presents Corrugated Fountain a new sculptural installation by James Grashow, on view through April 23, 2011.
Grashow’s epic sculpture recalls the Trevi fountain in Rome. Steeped in classical mythology, the room-sized installation is complete with a mammoth sculpture of Neptune, Tritons, rocks, waves, fish and dolphins. An homage to the achievements of classical and baroque artistry, Grashow uses his signature cardboard material to breath playful new light into old stone. Perhaps his most ambitious project yet, Corrugated Fountain took the artist 3 years to complete.
According to the artist, “Corrugated board is a material that understands its mortality, it knows that it’s destined for trash. It is bonded to the human experience. They say that 85% of everything on the planet has spent part of its life in a cardboard box. Corrugated board and us have a shared destiny, it is in our DNA. Rescued from trash, corrugated board is so grateful to be something, to have another chance. It becomes a perfect partner in play. “
Corrugated Fountain is the perfect vehicle for Grashow’s exploration of man and mortality. The idea of a Corrugated Fountain is impossible, an oxymoron that speaks to the human dilemma. As Grashow explains: “I wanted to make something heroic in its concept and execution with full awareness of its poetic absurdity. Water and cardboard cannot exist together. I wanted to try to make something eternal out of cardboard. To work in the face of mortality is the idea that made Corrugated Fountain an irresistible project for me.”
It is the artist’s intention for Corrugated Fountain to have its final venue outdoors and to watch as nature takes its toll. In what Grashow calls his “ final epic,” he will explore whether nature destroys or completes his work.
The documentary filmmaker Olympia Stone has been chronicling the Corrugated Fountain project from its inception and will continue documenting the process through its final stages. To find out more about the movie “The Cardboard Bernini” go to www.floatingstone.com
The Corrugated Fountain was on exhibit at the Taubman Museum of Art (Roanoke, VA) from June 11, 2010 to February 20, 2011. After the showing at the Allan Stone Gallery the exhibit will travel to The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum (Ridgefield, CT).
James Grashow is a renowned sculptor and woodcut printer. Born in Brooklyn, he studied at the Pratt Institute, where he received his BA and MFA in painting and sculpture. The son of a light industrialist, Grashow had access to a constant supply of cardboard as a child and discovered early on his facility with this medium. From intricate cardboard and twist-tie birds to the delicate and colorful Houseplant series, in which buildings seem to grow from blossoming wood and paper flowers, the artist’s varied oeuvre is marked by a contagious sense of humor and a longtime fascination with quotidian materials.
James Grashow has been showing with the Allan Stone Gallery since 1965. Corrugated Fountain marks his 11th solo exhibition at the gallery. His work has been exhibited at The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT; The DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Garden, Lincoln, MA; and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY. Grashow has produced commissioned sculptures for the National Ballet of Cuba, the San Francisco Ballet Company, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Walt Disney Company World Cruise Ship, Bradley International Airport, International Paper Company, and Morgan Stanley. His prints and illustrations have been included in The New York Times, Rolling Stone Magazine, Life magazine, Time magazine, Esquire, and New York magazine amongst others. Grashow lives and works in Connecticut.
