Manuel Neri exhibit at Yale University Art Gallery. Participants: Garth Evans, Bruce Gagnier, Sally Tittmann, Brandt Junceau, Martin Kersels, Monica Bock, David Cohen, Karen Wilkin (video by Maud Bryt).
I’ve known Neri’s work for some time—and it’s always troubled me. –Garth Evans
I find it hard to get past the mutilation, the crudeness, the defacing, the angry treatment of the female form—or of his girlfriend. . . –Sally Tittmann
I’m really puzzled at how literally you’re reading [the figures]. –Karen Wilkin
Looking at these sculptures I think that almost anything one can say might apply and might not apply. We’re trying to follow the mind of the artist and what kind of decisions and judgments they might be making as they deal with the content. I think you can read the figures as abstract or as manikins. . . I’m not quite sure what he’s doing in the end. It’s slippery. –Bruce Gagnier
What I’m witnessing is somebody who has an obsession. He never actually comes to terms with it—and what he’s manifesting is the complexity of his relationship to the subject: his anxiety, his anger, as well as his need for it. –Garth Evans
Sculpture Forum 