How did I begin? Wondering what painting would be like if the space between the threads of the canvas were expanded, I tried stretching chicken wire over frames made of electrical conduit. Fascinated by the potential of the wire mesh alone, I abandoned the frame. This was 1966. Considering that wire had already been processed into mesh, I explored all the ways the mesh could be reprocessed, using only my hands, feet and shears. It could be folded longitudinally, crossways and diagonally, rolled into tubes and coiled, and coils in turn could be folded. Chicken wire could be cut into strips which agglomerated into masses like tumbleweed. Layered sheets gave strength, and coming from an architectural background, I loved how the wire cloth could stand up and enclose space with a diaphanous presence, as the semi-rigid material took its own shape and made its own line. I was the only sculptor in this genre to create self-supported, lightweight, freestanding floor pieces. Nature was my ally, whispering each possibility into marvelously transparent form, inside and outside merged in continuity. Sculpture broke its rigid shell, and a living, breathing spirit emerged. In the attempt to make studies of mesh sculpture, I began drawing with bundles of pencils, and when the technique freed itself from the constraints of representation, Gang Drawings emerged, ensouling the moment of their creation into breathing worlds.
[excerpted from Alan Saret’s website: www. alan-saret.com]
Alan Saret’s work can be found in numerous collections including the Art Institute of Chicago; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Dallas Art Museum; Detroit Institute of Art; Fogg Museum, Cambridge; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Minneapolis Institute of Art; MoMA PS1, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; MoMA, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
