Main Themes, Keywords
NEA, the NEA 4,1990s Culture Wars, obscenity clause, identity politics, African-American art history, art/architecture collaborations, minimalism, craft and materials, art and design collaboration, landscape architecture, art and law, site-specific, design
Students Respond to the Art Work
Kevin Quiles Bonilla, Interventions on Three Benches, 2016-17
While being confronted with Martin Puryear’s bench sculptures at The New School, a work commissioned during the late 80’s and the idea of the phallic symbol, I decided to produce interventions on them through my performance practice with suggestive corporeal gestures to further open a dialogue of attempted censorship during that era. These benches were made with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts during the “Culture Wars”, a period when said governmental organization was implementing a series of censorships, particularly against visual artists.
Selected Readings
Martin Puryear at Matthew Marks Gallery
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associate’s website
Martin Puryear in “Time” – Art21 video
Elderfield, John. Martin Puryear. 2007. New York: The Museum of Modern Art
