LARRY KAGAN: STEEL AND SHADOW at HIRSCHL & ADLER MODERN

  • NEW YORK, New York
  • /
  • September 08, 2014

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KAGAN, LARRY, B. 1946. Magritte's Paradox, 2012, steel and shadow. 19 " x 22 " x 9 3/4"
Courtesy of Hirschl & Adler Modern, NY
KAGAN, LARRY, B. 1946. Chair with Shadow, 2013, steel and shadow. 30 1/4" x 10 1/2" x 15 3/8"
Courtesy of Hirschl & Adler Modern, NY

Hirschl & Adler Modern is proud to present its first exhibition of work by contemporary sculptor Larry Kagan. Larry Kagan: Steel & Shadow, on view from September 11 to October 11, 2014, will feature ten of the artist's distinctive wall sculptures characterized by the unexpected relationship between complex steel assemblages and the shadows they cast.


The artist's process could be described paradoxically as both additive and reductive.Kagan attempts to "draw with light" by bending, twisting and welding steel rods beneatha single beam of light. The completed sculpture is an elaborate tangle of metal withlyrical swoops and flourishes that manage to "carve" the light with remarkable subtletyand control. The resulting shadow is so incongruous with the three-dimensional objectas to elicit double takes from the viewer. The works upend everything we think we knowabout light and shadow, cause and effect, perception and reality.

KAGAN, LARRY, B. 1946. You Did What?, 2014, steel and shadow. 42 " x 18 "
Courtesy of Hirschl & Adler Modern, NY


Kagan's subjects switch effortlessly from whimsical art historical references like thesimple pipe in Magritte's Paradox and a Warhol-like fashion sense in Oxford, to thepointed existentialism of Chair with Shadow and militaristic reportage in Apache. Each instance is a carefully "drawn," nuanced image with broad tonal range, hard and softedges, the illusion of volume and spatial recession. His recent works explore the figureby capturing expressive gestures and poses. There's an emotional resonance anddepth that seems inconceivable in this medium. 


Born in Germany in 1946, Larry Kagan received a B.S. from Rensselaer PolytechnicInstitute, and a M.A. in Studio Arts from the State University of New York at Albany. Along time Professor of Art at Rensselear Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, hemaintains studios in Troy, New York and in New York City. Kagan’s work has beenexhibited nationally and internationally, and is represented in numerous private andpublic collections, including the Flint Institute of the Arts, Flint, MI; the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH; and the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA, to  name a few. Kagan’s work is the subject of an exhibition entitled Larry Kagan: Lying Shadows at the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, NY, which closes on September 14, 2014.  

Larry Kagan: Steel & Shadow opens on Thursday, September 11 and runs through Saturday, October 11, 2014.  Located in the landmark Crown Building at the world famous corner of 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, Hirschl & Adler Modern is open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 am to 4:45 pm. and beginning Saturday, September 20,Tuesday through Friday, from 9:30 am to 5:15 pm.


For additional information or images, contact Tom Parker at 212-535-8810 (phone) /212-772-7237 (fax), or by email at TomP@HirschlAndAdler.com. Please visit ourwebsite at www.HirschlAndAdler.com for an online preview of the exhibition.


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