Jaume Plensa, The Oak Series, 2020
Gray is pleased to announce that works in sculpture and installation by Theaster Gates, Jaume Plensa and Jim Dine will debut in Field of Dreams, the Parrish Art Museum’s inaugural sculpture exhibition. The extensive outdoor installation, which responds to the landscape and architecture of the museum’s 14-acre grounds in Water Mill, New York, opens August 20, 2020, featuring ten artists of international renown.
“Our meadow has been patiently waiting for this opportunity to become a true extension of the museum, allowing the Parrish to fulfill its responsibility to provide an opportunity to interact with art during the pandemic that is safe, socially distant, and rich with potent and timely meaning,” said Parrish Board President Mary E. Frank. “Field of Dreams is a space to conjure the carefree days of summers past or to dream of what the future might hold.”
The outdoor sculpture exhibition debuts four bronze portraits by Jaume Plensa: Carlota (oak), Julia (oak), Laura Asia (oak), and Wilsis (oak). Assembled together in the Great Meadow, the four sculptures welcomed visitors to walk among them. By depicting his subjects with closed eyes, Plensa seeks to evoke a sense of silence and stillness—a concept central to the artist’s practice. Standing over nine feet tall, these totemic works are the first in a new series of portraits carved directly into tree trunks. By including the trunks as part of the sculpture, Plensa draws the connection between humanity and nature. The wood acts as both the medium and subject of the sculpture while the irregular surfaces, scattered splinters and cracks in the wood are captured in bronze. This installation was organized in partnership with Galerie Lelong & Co., New York.
Field of Dreams was part of the Art in the Meadow initiative created to activate the Parrish Art Museum’s outdoor spaces with performances, screenings, and sculpture.