Alberto Giacometti and Lynda Benglis?

 

The third and last episode of the year-long series Encounters at the Barbican Center features Lynda Benglis along Alberto Giacometti, following Huma Bahbah and Mona Hatoum. The subtitle of the exhibition, Back at Ya, the name of one of the pieces from Benglis, reveals the focus of the show: a conversation between thirty previously unseen paper sculptures from Benglis and her selection of works from Giacometti.  

The wide gallery entrance allows a scenographic view of the carefully set display with a famous plaster sculpture from Giacometti Woman with Chariot (1943-45) in the center profiled on an earthy background, a sketch from the artist's bedroom wall transferred on canvas. Benglis's sculptures are installed for a symmetrical effect, one on each side of the painting and appear to float on the two surrounding walls. The white and off white monochromatic color scheme creates an ethereal atmosphere in which figurative and abstract works from the two sculptors resonate in harmony. They both project a duality of strength and fragility: the proud hieratic model, firmly grounded to her pedestal but vulnerable in her nakedness, and the diaphanous "skin" of Benglis's sculptures anchored on a solid armature of chicken wire. 

On the other side of a partition Standing Woman (1961-62), a bronze sculpture from Giacometti in a hieratic pose but missing arms, faces a work from Benglis, a vertical white tubular relief sculpture with a red bleeding gash in the middle. Both pieces convey similar themes of beauty marred by wounds and pain. The display takes a colorful turn with polychromic sculptures like Pi (1973), one of a series of "sparkle knots", as they keep growing in size. The festive wall sculptures radiate energy through volutes, crinkles, crumples, torsions, crushes, mashes, wrappings on chicken wire like skin on bones in a gestural action sculpting and painting. Their exuberance contrasts with the gravitas of Giacometti's paintings and sculptures set like anchors for the show, Half-Length of a Man (1965) in the center of the gallery or small painted statues in a wall vitrine surrounded by Benglis's creations. Only one of them is a ceramic in the round, Acuyé (2013), a red and black dramatic piece inspired by the harsh landscapes of New Mexico. The titles of the works "Gulped Oyster", "On y va", "Big Back Ass", ..., reflect a lighthearted mood or evoke places like "Park Avenue", "Teotihucán", "Wolfeboro". Mainly from 2017-18 the unseen works housed in her studio in Santa Fe represent a snapshot of Benglis's busy practice, showcasing her continuous experimentation with various media in the course of her long career. Half a century separate the two artists born on different continents, Giacometti in Swizerland and Benglis, now 84 years old, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The juxtaposition of their works emphasizes their common interest in expressing emotions through the representation of the human body: anxiety and loneliness for Giacometti, uninhibited joy and sensuality for Benglis. 

Thinking back, it appears that through their different styles, both artists relate to universal human experiences, rendering their works timeless.  

photographs by the author:

Lynda Benglis "Pi" (1973)

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