Weightless: when the material of art is lighter than air

Suspended sculpture has gradually established itself as a genre in its own right, becoming a 'classic', as gallery owner Jocelyn Wolff called it, who about a year ago dedicated an exhibition to it in her Paris gallery entitled Sur le fil and last June her entire stand at the Art Basel fair in Basel. "When a sculptor approaches an exhibition space, he does not only think about surfaces, as a painter might do, but about volume; in addition to walls and light, he looks at the floor, the ceiling, and thinks about how to activate the space. In the case of the suspended sculptures, the artist plays with the tension created in the empty space between the work and the floor,' explains the gallery owner.

“Hroswitha” (1973), di Rosemary Mayer durante “Ways of Attaching” al Ludwig Forum Aachen, nel 2022. ©Mareike Tocha, Courtesy of Sam Gordon, New York and ChertLüdde, Berlin and The Estate of Rosemary Mayer, New York

Today, there are many artists working in this direction. Of those represented by Jocelyn Wolff, almost all have dealt with the genre more or less assiduously, but especially Katinka Bock and Francisco Tropa. The latter did a residency a few years ago in what was once Calder's atelier, creating a work that reflects on cosmic organisation, The Dream of Scipio (2015). But unlike the American artist, Tropa usually chooses to work with heavy materials, such as bronze. And so does Katinka Bock, who also includes perishable objects and the temporal dimension in her sculptures. For example, in One meter balance the German artist has created a complex balance between a suspended metal bar, a ruler and a lemon. As it dries, the lemon changes its weight and thus its balance. Compared to Calder, there is a lack of movement and lightness and, rather, a sense of gravity (one of his works at Art Basel cost 22,000 euros; those by Francisco Tropa ranged between 9,000 and 23,000 euros).

L’installazione “The homemaker and her domain, part III” (2022), di Leonor Antunes alla galleria kurimanzutto di Città del Messico. ©Gerardo Landa Roja. COURTESY kurimanzutto.

Galleries, fairs and museums have thus become populated with sometimes ethereal, sometimes cumbersome presences claiming their space. For Zora Mann, former model for brands such as Chanel, Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton and now an artist based in Berlin, hanging sculptures made of wooden and ceramic body elements and African-inspired masks gives them an appearance. They are spectres looking the visitor in the eye, each manifesting an emotion or an aspect of the human personality. She is represented by the ChertLüdde gallery (prices between 6-9 thousand euros), which also has other artists who use suspension. For example, Monia Ben Hamouda, an Italian-Tunisian who is influenced in her work by the calligraphic art practised by her father. Her meticulously conceived sculptures are laser-cut steel plates in which figurative culture and iconoclasm collide. They cast their shadows on the walls and floor, on which the artist has sprinkled scented and coloured spice powder, creating an effect that engages all the senses (starting at EUR 10,000).

“Lúmbrio #12” (2024), di Laura Lima. ©Courtesy of A Gentil Carioca. Copyright © Laura Lima

The American Rosemary Mayer, on the other hand, a feminist, intellectual, and protagonist of the New York art scene of the 1960s, who remained underestimated until her death in 2014, used fabric to create sculptures poised between form and formlessness. The cloth detaches itself from the frame and becomes a curtain, reminiscent of the scarlet drapes depicted in the mannerist paintings she admired, but also alluding to femininity and the sensuality of genitalia (the works are so rare that they are reserved for museums).

“Mauvais genre” (2022), di Mélissa Boucher Morales. ©Marc Domage

These are creations that, as in the case of Eva Hesse, oppose the rigidity of the then prevailing minimalist movement, focusing instead on invisible forces such as tension. During her short career - she died at the age of 34 - the German-born American artist, who is now represented by the Hauser & Wirth megagallery, transformed the language of sculpture by using materials such as lattex, industrial plastics, and rope to give life to organic forms that follow their own course, not that imposed by the artist. In a note in 1970, he wrote of one of his works: 'Hung irregularly by tying knots like connections, letting it really go as it will, allowing it to determine the way it completes itself'.

Veduta della personale “Karla Black” presso la Galleria Raffaella Cortese di Milano nel 2016. ©Foto Lorenzo Palmieri. Courtesy Karla Black e Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milano – Albisola

ART BASEL, artbasel.com. The next edition will be in Miami, 6 to 8 December. JOCELYN WOLFF. "Suspension", by Matthieu Poirier, £35, on amazon.co.uk. ARTISTS LEONOR ANTUNES. MONIA BEN HAMOUDA. KARLA BLACK. KATINKA BOCK. MÉLISSA BOUCHER MORALES. ALEXANDER CALDER. MARCEL DUCHAMP. EVA HESSE. HARALD KLINGELHÖLLER. LAURA LIMA. ZORA MANN. ROSEMARY MAYER. JESUS RAFAEL SOTO. FRANCISCO TROPA.