An exhibition long overdue in Boston, Six Sculptors reflected various modes of sculpture-making, running the gamut of current idioms from free-standing objects and wall reliefs to architectonic constructions and ephemeral installations.

Three of the artists are object-makers. FRITZ BUEHNER’s Nonce, a tightly coiled wooden helix, alternately revealed and concealed the logic of its making. One of a recent series, Nonce sat dense and solid when approached from either of its flat, layered sides. Walking its baseless perimeter, however, the viewer sees the webwork solid open up. On either flank, the

An exhibition long overdue in Boston, Six Sculptors reflected various modes of sculpture-making, running the gamut of current idioms from free-standing objects and wall reliefs to architectonic constructions and ephemeral installations.

—Ronald J. Onorato

An exhibition long overdue in Boston, Six Sculptors reflected various modes of sculpture-making, running the gamut of current idioms from free-standing objects and wall reliefs to architectonic constructions and ephemeral installations.

The other reliefs in the show, by JOHN AVERY NEWMAN, are flat painted wood constructions. These hedge on expected definitions of plane, projection, continuity and separation, line and volume. Here too, a graphic sense captures many of these dichotomies. Newman's structures are armatures for his drawing in line, color and shadow. The stark white verticals of

An exhibition long overdue in Boston, Six Sculptors reflected various modes of sculpture-making, running the gamut of current idioms from free-standing objects and wall reliefs to architectonic constructions and ephemeral installations.

In a totally different realm of sculptural conception, LEE NEWTON defines her own arena by laying out a horizontal and a vertical working space. As with her earlier works one feels compelled to read this arrangement for its linear narrative content since her multipartite ensembles have a strong theatrical ambience—stage, backdrop, props, etc. This particular

An exhibition long overdue in Boston, Six Sculptors reflected various modes of sculpture-making, running the gamut of current idioms from free-standing objects and wall reliefs to architectonic constructions and ephemeral installations.

By far the two most impressive efforts in the exhibition were created by artists who constructed their own spaces. ED ROTHFARB’s In leiunio et Fletu is a freestanding unit in one corner of the largest gallery built of gray plasterboard panels over a wooden frame. Within a primarily architectural idiom, Rothfarb’s piece addresses his participatory audience

An exhibition long overdue in Boston, Six Sculptors reflected various modes of sculpture-making, running the gamut of current idioms from free-standing objects and wall reliefs to architectonic constructions and ephemeral installations.

The most visually exciting piece in the exhibition was that of JEFFREY SCHIFF. Like Rothfarb, Schiff created his own space but with more ephemeral means—he made no objects, he built no structures. In one sense, the space Schiff used was given as he chose to rework part of the remodeled interior of the institute’s 19th-century building. His chosen area, the main

An exhibition long overdue in Boston, Six Sculptors reflected various modes of sculpture-making, running the gamut of current idioms from free-standing objects and wall reliefs to architectonic constructions and ephemeral installations.

The small skeletal relief platforms of ALAN MOTCH make all too obvious references to industrial structures and engineered frames. These are not concerned with the same type of brute force required to build actual trestles or wharves; in fact, they almost negate load-bearing gravity. Precious in scale, they sit lightly on otherwise blank whitewalls. But because