Lynda Benglis at Franklin Parrasch

Art in America, Oct, 2002 by David Ebony

Among the materials that Lynda Benglis has used extensively in her sculptures over the years, including bronze, aluminum, lead, glass, wax and resin, clay is the one with which she seems to be the most relaxed and expressive. Her process-driven art appears to be readily adaptable to the medium of ceramics. To begin with, she manipulates the clay in an impressive variety of ways, from carefully arranging slabs to fiercely pounding and kneading large chunks of it. The element of chance clearly inspires her, and the fluidity of the clay lends itself naturally to her signature abstract organic forms. Using various glazing techniques and a complex palette, Benglis, in her best ceramic works, creates a potent hybrid of painting and sculpture.

This recent exhibition, the first New York show devoted exclusively to her ceramics, included seven medium-sized freestanding sculptures from the past decade, most averaging not more than 2 feet in any dimension. Set on waist-high stands, the colorful abstract objects, some with gold and silver metallic glazes, at first suggest zoomorphic shapes or architectural forms. The wildly animated Apena (1995-96), for instance, looks like a study of a leaping horse or dog. Hohota (1992) resembles a blobby head and torso rendered in clumps of obsessively worked clay. Glossy black glaze covering the top portion of this piece runs down its intricately furrowed "neck."

The most recent work on view, Winner (Warrior), 2001, hints at architecture. In this 32-inch-high piece, rectangular slabs of clay glazed with gloss black and matte yellow and blue stand totemlike, pressed against each other like a house of cards. The work also suggests a group of broken shields or a shattered vessel. In Zumaque (2001), stacks of circular forms and sweeping arcs, highlighted with painterly flourishes of blue and bronze glaze, convey a sense of rhythmic movement. The piece recalls both an early Cubist still-life sculpture by Picasso and a Futurist bronze by Boccioni.

Some works closely relate to Benglis's sculptures in other materials. In Palooca and Baca (both 1995-96), for instance, twisted ropes of terra-cotta splattered with sparkling metallic glaze recall the artist's early, well-known series of wall-hung "knots" made of plaster and metal. In all of the best pieces in this vibrant show, the artist seems to transform her humble material into an otherworldly substance.