Late summer 2013 at the Morrison Gallery featured Taking Over, an exhibition of work by cardboard sculptor Henry Klimowicz. The show, which opened on July 20 and ran through September 1 with selected works on view through October 6, featured many recent large scale works arrayed throughout the 7,000 square foot gallery.
Klimowicz’s inventiveness combined with the adaptable nature of his work creates a sculpture exhibition unprecedented at the gallery. Included are several large pieces that climb 17 feet high, accentuating the vaulted ceiling of the gallery. And, in a small room Klimowicz has created an extension of his studio, adapting larger pieces to a small space and covering the walls and ceilings with his organic and abstract forms.
The Morrison Gallery exhibit follows previous shows of Klimowicz sculptures at the Tremaine Gallery of Hotchkiss School, The Berkshire Museum, The Wassaic Project, the University of Wisconsin/Milwaukee, the Re Institute, Pop Up in Chelsea and the OpenStudio.
“Cardboard is simple and straightforward,” says Klimowicz. “It is also a severely limited material. It has an ever-present cultural bias related to its past uses as a container or its present use as waste. I love it when the material transcends its cultural confines. If I can make something beautiful from cardboard, I have then said that anything can be made valuable, fruitful, or hopeful. I see this work as very positive because of the lengths that have been traveled by the material from trash to beauty. It is a statement about the possible—that all things can be redeemed, often for more than what was deposited. Creativity can be that redeemer.”
The artist has used cardboard as the primary material for his art since about 1986.
