Monochrome II
Monochrome II
Artist
Nancy Rubins
(born 1952)
Date2010-2018
MediumStainless steel, stainless steel wire, and aluminum
Dimensions33 × 55 × 35 ft (10.06 × 16.77 × 10.67 m)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2017.21
Accession number
2017.21
On View
On viewLabel TextIn this work by Nancy Rubins, recycled aluminum canoes and small boats balance off a central column, challenging conventions of found object sculpture by both encompassing delicacy and strength. Rubins often creates suspended monumental formations from large found objects—including trailer homes and aircraft parts—that she chooses for their formal qualities instead of their original functions. In the 1990s, she began to use brightly-colored canoes which people connected with painting, but by 2010 when she started the Monochrome series, she opted to not imply connections to painting and chose aluminum canoes devoid of color. The seemingly precarious compositions evoke tension and create the illusion that the objects are frozen in time and space.
