David Smith: Field Work – Making a Mark

28 Sep - 22 Dec 2019

Somerset

About

The Book Lab at Hauser & Wirth Somerset is devoted to the American artist David Smith. Titled ‘Making a Mark’ it uses archival material both in printed form and stories told by his children presented in films to bring Smith’s artistic legacy to life.

These archival images and stories show Smith as a true pioneer, working in a multitude of media, with energetic vigour and determination. Smith once said ‘the need, the drive to express can be so strong that the drawing makes its own reason for being’.

One of the foremost artists of the twentieth century David Smith is known for his use of industrial methods and materials, and the integration of open space into sculpture. Drawing played a central role in Smith’s practice, as he captured the three-dimensionality of space, drawing was a constant for Smith, moving freely, making his mark on the world.

About Book Lab

The Hauser & Wirth Book Lab is a project devoted to exploring the important place that books and prints occupy in the practice of artists. Building upon Hauser & Wirth’s curatorial and publishing activities, the Lab presents thematic installations, displays and programming that invite reflection, creative thinking, and further conversations about the world of printed matter and its connection to artists’ ideas and objectives.

Installation views

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About the Artist

David Smith is regarded as one of the most innovative artists and important American sculptors of the 20th century. He transformed sculpture by rejecting the traditional methods of carving and casting in favor of torch-cutting and welding, becoming the first artist known to make welded sculpture in America. These methods allowed him to work in an improvisational manner in creating open and large-scale, abstract sculptures. In his later years, he installed his sculptures in the fields of his home in the Adirondack Mountains, where a dialogue between the art object and nature emerged as central to his practice. His sculpture-filled landscape inspired Storm King Art Center and other sculpture parks throughout the world, as well as anticipating the land and environmental art movements.