Shirazeh Houshiary constructs a variety of sculptural forms based on the metaphysical doctrines of Sufism. Since Sufism has no sculptural tradition of its own, she is compelled to appropriate various formal means of late-20th century Western sculpture. The earliest examples of Houshiary’s art are spiritually suggestive environments and striking objects in a biomorphic idiom. Later, she achieved a higher degree of esthetic autonomy and monumentality in her sculptures; they are minimal in form, ascetic, and theatrically installed.

A recent grouping of sculptures questioned the audience’s belief

A great deal has been written about Richard Hamilton in the past 40 years, but of all the things I have read, one comment in particular sticks in my mind for its sheer asinine wrong-headedness: the claim, made by Peter Fuller in 1981, that Hamilton’s work displays a contempt for traditional art and craft practices. Certainly, Hamilton has refused to employ a narrow range of techniques and materials, but far from wishing to reject a tradition, his persistent endeavor has been to enlarge the scope of what we consider “fine art.” Hamilton has always addressed the problem of how, as a fine artist