I saw an amazing exhibition of her work at the Japanese American Museum here in Los Angeles a few years ago at the suggestion and with my friend the artist Robert Lewis. I loved her work and her life story. After that I saw pieces in the wonderful LACMA show California Design 1930-1985 – Living in a Modern Way and then a beautiful piece was at the Los Angeles Modern Auction a year or so ago. Her work was organic and magical to see. Robert made me my own small Ruth Asawa sculpture after the show and I know her work has always inspired him.
This is from LAMA blog and site:
As we remember San Francisco sculptor, Ruth Asawa, who passed away last Tuesday night, we will celebrate her creative genius, her strong will, and her beautifully intricate wire forms. A common misconception about these continuous forms is that Asawa created a fabric of loops and then molded it, but she actually created the shape by adding and subtracting loops, either working top to bottom or bottom to top, which her daughter Aiko said involves a lot of math. Additionally, Aiko spoke of how her mother would revisit her earlier works and reinterpret these projects later, which showed her constant involvement and development of her own work.
Asawa has only recently been recognized as a world-renowned artist after decades of creating public landmarks and personal artworks. Her crocheted forms have a permanent place at the de Young Museum after a retrospective in 2006, and this past spring a wire form sold for over $1 million at auction.
We will remember Asawa’s immense talent and her ability to pioneer a new form of sculpture, while transcending barriers faced by Asian-American women in post-WWII America.
08/21/2013 | Posted by Eye Forward
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