Nairy Baghramian believes that “a sculptural form cannot simply be split into a conceptual component and a material or psychic ‘remnant.’” Maintainers A exemplifies this inextricable link between idea and form. A black bracket, bracing the green polishing wax, calls attention to how the work is held together. Both the ideas of preservation and destruction are inherent in the materials: the coarse aluminum could be refined by the wax, which in turn would be depleted if actually used for that purpose. The sculpture’s waxy surfaces also evoke the body, while the elements’ shapes recall the visual language of modernism and design, and also the irregular contours of stone.
Gallery label from 2019
