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Untitled (Hanging, Two Lobed, Interlocking Continuous Forms Within Forms)

c.1955

No image available
  • Medium

    Wire

  • Dimensions

    24 x 16 x 16 in. (60.96 x 40.64 x 40.64 cm)

  • Credit

    The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
    Gift of Sid and Evelyn Shishido

  • Accession number

    2011.23

  • Object label

    Ruth Asawa’s Untitled (Hanging, Two-Lobed, Interlocking Continuous Forms within Forms) utilizes the unique properties and possibilities of wire as a sculptural material. Employing a basket-making technique that she learned on a visit to Mexico in 1947, Asawa exploits wire’s essence: wire can be threaded in precise, exacting loops; though flexible, it is rigid enough to hold its own shape without need of an armature; due to its light weight, it can be easily suspended; and because it is thin, yet strong, it can occupy a maximal volume with minimal mass. By deploying wire as both surface and structure, Asawa’s mesh sculpture fulfills the modernist art philosophy of “truth to materials,” which dictates that the form of a work should emerge from its physical properties.