The Walk | Americana Art Series
Visit Americana and follow along on a casual self-guided sculpture walk. This series features works on extended loan from Nassau Country Museum of Art, and a sculpture from Arthur Carter, Signifier II (below), as well as Americana Manhasset's private collection — it's a must see!
Arthur Carter (b. 1931)
Signifier II, 1999
Bronze
96 x 60 x 5 inches
Extended Loan, Courtesy of the Artist
A multitalented Renaissance man who had previous careers as an investment banker and newspaper publisher prior to his devotion to sculpture, Connecticut-based Arthur Carter uses the foundations of mathematics to create intricate and versatile sculptures in various media. He employs complex ideas to fabricate multidisciplinary and straightforward compositions. His works are often appropriately situated among natural elements and bustling urban landscapes, imbuing vitality and motion into otherwise stationary, grid-like structures. The surfaces of his sculptures are enhanced by the changing atmospheric conditions and purposeful light vibrations of the outdoor environments in which they are exhibited, fluctuating between bright reflective mirrors and more subdued reverberations. As Carter has said about his practical approach to his art, “Purity in both design and business function means never dilute, never diffuse, and never bloat.”
Alex C. Maccaro
Assistant Curator, Nassau County Museum of Art
Jedd Novatt (b. 1958)
Untitled, ca. 1981
Painted welded steel
79 x 20 x 7 inches
Extended Loan, Nassau County Museum of Art
Born in Brooklyn and based in Paris, sculptor Jedd Novatt is famous for his energetic, colossal and geometrically abstract structures that address concepts of space, balance and gravity. He creates towering architectural arrangements through interlocking asymmetrical and quadratic shapes and forms, alluding to an elemental state of disorder and fundamental tensions specific to the medium of sculpture. Novatt achieves a mysterious balance between chaos and stability in elegantly engineered works that concurrently tumble and soar, presenting a sense of weightlessness in spite of his materials’ heaviness. To best experience his complex works, one must view them from multiple vantage points and note how they interact with surrounding architecture, their environment and the viewer. Novatt's unique multifaceted structures push the limits of space and challenge laws of physics, standing as a monument in sculptural history.
Alex C. Maccaro
Assistant Curator, Nassau County Museum of Art
Joel Perlman (b. 1943)
PALE RIDER, 1992
Steel
88 1/4 x 36 x 20 inches
PALE HORSE, 1992
Steel
87 1/4 x 36 x 20 inches
Extended Loan, Nassau County Museum of Art
Throughout a prolific and productive career that has spanned over thirty years, New York sculptor Joel Perlman has produced large-scale abstract metal works that juxtapose vast densities against airy contours. His work explores the concept of weight, monumentality and negative space, intertwining linear forms that allude to modern machinery and vivacious energy. Often working without predesigned models, Perlman cuts and arranges shapes to manipulate and adjoin the media with which he works, creating jagged-edged artworks such as PALE HORSE and PALE RIDER, on display here. Greatly inspired by the works of Russian Constructivist Alexander Rodchenko and Romanian Modernist Constantin Brâncuși, Perlman glorifies geometric figures and vast open spaces, tying his process closely to the materials and construction that are involved in the creation of his sculptures.
Alex C. Maccaro
Assistant Curator, Nassau County Museum of Art
