MAREN HASSINGER
Notes from the Wind, 1991/2026
Concrete and wire rope
1 3/4 x 2 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (Block)
5 1/2 x 2 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (Overall)
(10 units total)
5 1/2 x 2 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (Overall)
(10 units total)
Copyright The Artist
'Notes from the Wind' continues Hassinger's interest in the mimicry of natural forms via industrial materials, as the wire rope is arranged to appear like grass being bent by the...
"Notes from the Wind" continues Hassinger's interest in the mimicry of natural forms via industrial materials, as the wire rope is arranged to appear like grass being bent by the wind. Her concrete and wire rope sculptures have evolved and pared down throughout their lineage, but this work is striking in its visual similarity to the form it mimics. The splayed wire rope has a defined sense of movement, and the repetition of the units enforces the appearance of a nonexistent wind.
The work, like much of her wire-rope investigations, hearkens back to some of Hassinger's earliest sculptural work, in which she employed the materials' sinuous aesthetic and pliability to reference natural phenomena. 1972's "Convergence" and 1975's "Synapse" feel bodily, the wire rope works made in the image of neural pathways, connective tissue, and physical interiority, while works like 1974's "Rain" or 1971's "Untitled (Sea Anenome)" are abstracted representations of the exterior world, named for weather patterns and sea life.
1976/1977 saw works like "Dry/Flow" and "Deep Down" physically combine or compare the wire rope with actual biomatter, branches and wood juxtaposed with the industrial material. A turning point comes in 1979, when Hassinger jettisoned abstraction entirely with the outdoor installation "Twelve Trees." Literal in name and form, the wire rope structures are planted in a row, twisted in their standard manner at the base and unravelling towards the top, unmistakably echoing the trees among which they were installed. Since then, Hassinger has vacillated between using the wire rope literally or abstractly, playing with scale, repetition, and the introduction of yet more industrial material in the form of concrete, seen in "Notes from the Wind."
The work, like much of her wire-rope investigations, hearkens back to some of Hassinger's earliest sculptural work, in which she employed the materials' sinuous aesthetic and pliability to reference natural phenomena. 1972's "Convergence" and 1975's "Synapse" feel bodily, the wire rope works made in the image of neural pathways, connective tissue, and physical interiority, while works like 1974's "Rain" or 1971's "Untitled (Sea Anenome)" are abstracted representations of the exterior world, named for weather patterns and sea life.
1976/1977 saw works like "Dry/Flow" and "Deep Down" physically combine or compare the wire rope with actual biomatter, branches and wood juxtaposed with the industrial material. A turning point comes in 1979, when Hassinger jettisoned abstraction entirely with the outdoor installation "Twelve Trees." Literal in name and form, the wire rope structures are planted in a row, twisted in their standard manner at the base and unravelling towards the top, unmistakably echoing the trees among which they were installed. Since then, Hassinger has vacillated between using the wire rope literally or abstractly, playing with scale, repetition, and the introduction of yet more industrial material in the form of concrete, seen in "Notes from the Wind."