Past Exhibition

Martin Puryear: Big Bling

May 16, 2016 – April 2, 2017

Past Exhibition

Martin Puryear: Big Bling

May 16, 2016 – April 2, 2017

Big Bling, the largest temporary outdoor sculpture that the revered sculptor Martin Puryear has constructed, confirms how human experience is key to understanding his work. At forty-feet high, Big Bling achieves colossal scale and elicits a range of profound interpretations through politics, identity, and democracy. Big Bling’s architectural language suggests a structure that is accessible by ascension through its levels. Yet its storeys are obstructed by chain-link fence, a barrier to entry. Puryear wrote:

“I see you New York. I see how you grow and compartmentalize and stratify. I see how you beckon and promise (and also how you exclude).

And crowning it all like a beacon, I see your wealth, your gilded shackle, the golden ring (the bling), the prize, our pride, maybe even our success.”

The monumental work is part animal form, part abstract sculpture, and part intellectual meditation. His signature organic vocabulary appears in a graceful, sinewy outline and an amoeboid form in the work’s center. Big Bling is industrially produced with laminated plywood wrapped in fine chain-link fence. A gold-leafed shackle is anchored near the top. Puryear, known for his devotion to traditional ways of working, typically creates handmade artworks using methods gleaned from carpentry, boat building, and other trades with spare, exacting stylistic dignity.

About the artist

Martin Puryear (American, born 1941) represented the United States at the 2019 Venice Biennale and the 1989 Bienal de São Paulo, where he was awarded the festival’s grand prize. Puryear earned his B.A. from the Catholic University of America (1963) and his M.F.A. from Yale University (1971). He also attended the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts (1966–68).

He has been the recipient of prestigious awards including a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant (1981), a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award (1989), the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture (1990) and the J. Paul Getty Medal (2020). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1992) and awarded an honorary doctorate by Yale University (1994) and the National Medal of Arts (2011). Puryear’s work is included in public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the National Gallery of Art. Puryear lives and works in the Hudson River Valley region of New York.

Read more about the artist
About the artist

Martin Puryear (American, born 1941) represented the United States at the 2019 Venice Biennale and the 1989 Bienal de São Paulo, where he was awarded the festival’s grand prize. Puryear earned his B.A. from the Catholic University of America (1963) and his M.F.A. from Yale University (1971). He also attended the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts (1966–68).

He has been the recipient of prestigious awards including a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant (1981), a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award (1989), the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture (1990) and the J. Paul Getty Medal (2020). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1992) and awarded an honorary doctorate by Yale University (1994) and the National Medal of Arts (2011). Puryear’s work is included in public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the National Gallery of Art. Puryear lives and works in the Hudson River Valley region of New York.

Read more about the artist

“I see you New York. I see how you grow and compartmentalize and stratify. I see how you beckon and promise (and also how you exclude).

And crowning it all like a beacon, I see your wealth, your gilded shackle, the golden ring (the bling), the prize, our pride, maybe even our success.”

About the artist

Martin Puryear (American, born 1941) represented the United States at the 2019 Venice Biennale and the 1989 Bienal de São Paulo, where he was awarded the festival’s grand prize. Puryear earned his B.A. from the Catholic University of America (1963) and his M.F.A. from Yale University (1971). He also attended the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts (1966–68).

He has been the recipient of prestigious awards including a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant (1981), a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award (1989), the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture (1990) and the J. Paul Getty Medal (2020). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1992) and awarded an honorary doctorate by Yale University (1994) and the National Medal of Arts (2011). Puryear’s work is included in public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the National Gallery of Art. Puryear lives and works in the Hudson River Valley region of New York.

Read more about the artist
Exhibition Catalogue

Martin Puryear: Big Bling

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Press Release

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About the artist

Martin Puryear (American, born 1941) represented the United States at the 2019 Venice Biennale and the 1989 Bienal de São Paulo, where he was awarded the festival’s grand prize. Puryear earned his B.A. from the Catholic University of America (1963) and his M.F.A. from Yale University (1971). He also attended the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts (1966–68).

He has been the recipient of prestigious awards including a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant (1981), a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award (1989), the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture (1990) and the J. Paul Getty Medal (2020). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1992) and awarded an honorary doctorate by Yale University (1994) and the National Medal of Arts (2011). Puryear’s work is included in public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and the National Gallery of Art. Puryear lives and works in the Hudson River Valley region of New York.

Read more about the artist

Image gallery

Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Jordan Tinker
Photo: Jordan Tinker
Photo: Jordan Tinker
Photo: Yasunori Matsui
Photo: Yasunori Matsui

Exhibition Support

Association for Public Art, Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Henry Luce Foundation, The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, J.P. Morgan Securities and Unalam of Unadilla, New York.

Major support for the art program is provided by Toby Devan Lewis, Pentagram Design, Sorgente Group of America, Thornton Tomasetti, Tiffany & Co., The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Anonymous. Substantial support is provided by George W. Ahl III, Irving Harris Foundation, The Sol LeWitt Fund for Artist Work, Danny and Audrey Meyer, Ronald A. Pizzuti, and The Rudin Family. Ace Hotel New York is the Official Hotel Partner of Madison Square Park Conservancy.

Big Bling is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. The art program is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The art program is supported in part with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. Madison Square Park Conservancy is a public/private partnership with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

Martin Puryear: Big Bling

Martin Puryear: Big Bling

Martin Puryear: Big Bling

Exhibition Support

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