Maren Hassinger Leaning 1980

  • Not on view

Emerging from Hassinger’s training in fiber arts and longstanding interest in dance, Leaning captures movement in sculptural form, falling somewhere between object-making and performance. “I… began to use the cable in a fiberlike manner,” she recalled. “I bunched it and bound it with wire, then unplied all the strands. I noticed that the material began to resemble living, moving, growing things.” The thirty-two bundles that compose the work give the impression of movement, from the smallest details—the unraveling of the steel rope at the tops and bottoms of each bale—to the way the entire installation seems to sway and bend, as though moved by wind.

Gallery label from 2019
Additional text

Can you picture these sculptures swaying in the breeze? They’re leaning this way and that, almost like plants moving with the wind. But these artworks aren’t light: they’re made of heavy steel rope, frayed at the ends. What else do you notice about them?

Kids label from 2019
Medium
Wire rope and wire, 32 bundles
Dimensions
Each 16" (40.6 cm) high
Credit
Acquired through the generosity of The Modern Women's Fund and Ronnie Heyman
Object number
206.2018
Copyright
© Maren Hassinger
Department
Painting and Sculpture

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