Daisy Youngblood: Ten Years 2006-2015
McKee Gallery, New York
April 2 – May 30, 2015
The McKee Gallery presents a ten-year survey exhibition of DAISY YOUNGBLOOD’s sculpture.
Daisy Youngblood has produced 14 sculptures over the last decade, in low-fire clay or in bronze cast from clay, all of which are on view. The work over the last 10 years reflects changes in her approach to making sculpture. Although she has used pieces of wood in many earlier works, found objects in nature are more decisively incorporated into the clay and the scale has increased. Stones are used as heads, eyes, noses, torsos; a long concave piece of oak is a body. They are all equal parts of a living whole for Daisy Youngblood.
The earliest piece in the exhibition is Budhi 2006, a moving portrait in clay of her daughter with Down’s syndrome; then Bear 2007, a gentle spirit in clay; Venus 2007, a fierce crouching figure that could be animal or human, blurring the lines between them; a series of orangutans in motion: Oladio 2009, Leaping I and Leaping II 2010. Anubis and the First Chakra 2012 is a major statement of materials and essence. There are three complex sculptures in different Yoga poses, and lastly, Chandrika 2014, a long reclining figure, seemingly moribund. The strong influence of Buddhism is evident.
The artist writes about these last works: “Some of the sculptures over the last ten years show signs of despair, anger, fright, none of which were intentional, but the feelings leaked through. I think the sculptures can be seen as my slow, persistent awakening to the realities of what may be in store for us on a rapidly heating planet.”
DAISY YOUNGBLOOD was born in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1945. She studied at The Richmond Professional Institute, Virginia, and received the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship in 2003. She has lived in New York City, Bisbee, Arizona, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and currently lives and works in Costa Rica. As she writes, “I live in Costa Rica on the side of a mountain with my husband and daughter. A big river runs around the farm, the old forest still breathes above us. I go down a steep trail to my studio every day, it’s a place of large boulders and riverlets.”
There is a 40-page catalogue available, with 25 color illustrations and an essay by Constance Lewallen.
MCKEE GALLERY
745 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10151
