David Smith: The Nature of Sculpture

David Smith: The Nature of Sculpture is the first exhibition to explore the artist’s deep engagement with the natural world as source, subject and site for his art. Working in multiple media, formats, and scales, David Smith’s adventurous approach to three-dimensional form has permanently expanded the vocabulary and range of sculptural practice. Celebrated as the first American artist to make welded metal sculptures, and to incorporate industrial means in his work, Smith’s early enlistment of nature as a material and prime setting for his art was equally innovative. Spanning Smith’s full career, the exhibition will feature some 50 sculptures, along with related paintings, reliefs and works on paper to reclaim the primacy of nature within the artist’s richly inventive oeuvre. This exploration of sculpture and nature will have particularly strong resonance at Meijer Gardens, where Smith’s work will be in direct dialogue with the natural environs, including larger pieces situated outdoors to commune with the elements as the artist intended.