Tag: wooden sculpture

Yashua Klos at Sikkema Jenkins & Co

Curious to know what African cultures were part of his ancestry, New York artist Yashua Klos took a DNA test that unexpectedly ended up reconnecting him with his large Detroit-based family.  New work now on view at Sikkema Jenkins Gallery includes a handsomely presented row of masks that merge a welding mask – symbol of Detroit’s automobile industry and part of his own family’s history – with various masks influenced by African examples.  Klos considers each a symbol of ‘invocation and protection’ and torches the exterior as a transformational act akin to activating the mask’s power.  (On view in Chelsea through Dec 3rd).

Yashua Klos, Dan Protection Power Welding Mask, stained and charred wood, 13 ¼ x 10 ¾ x 11 1/8 inches, 2021.

Richard Nonas at James Fuentes

In the late 60s, Richard Nonas was working as an anthropologist when he had an epiphany in the park one day while playing with his dog.  Picking up pieces of wood, he was struck by their relationship to each other and began a career in making sculpture whose construction was plain to see but which resulted in what he calls an ‘unexpected inexplicable result.’ (At James Fuentes on the Lower East Side through  April 21st).  

Richard Nonas, Untitled (from the Cherrytree Split Series), cherry wood, 2012.