The Paula Cooper Gallery is pleased to announce an important exhibition of a new large-scale sculpture and related works on paper by Robert Grosvenor. Simultaneously on view will be an exhibition of selected works by John McLaughlin.

Since the first half of the 1960s, Robert Grosvenor has produced a provocative and challenging body of work–primarily monumental sculpture–that has existed outside of clearly defined categories. Uncompromising, pure and direct, Grosvenor’s sculpture successfully uses a formal vocabulary that is both recognizable and unfamiliar, rigorous and romantic, humble and yet thoroughly elegant. These works additionally rely on an unpredictable use of contemporary materials such as corrugated metal, fiberglass, concrete block, plastic and paving stones to question the boundaries between art, architecture and history.

Like much of his work from the last decade, Grosvenor’s large-scale sculpture for this exhibition is explicitly metaphorical in its reference to architecture and vernacular building. The work consists of a low flagstone wall that bisects the main gallery and on top of which are placed colored glass orbs like those found in gardens and a sculpture of twisted and intertwining metal rods. Starting as a straight line and then angling slightly after its midpoint, this work is purposely rugged and rustic, at once wry and irreverent. The exhibition will also include drawings and a collage relating to the sculpture.

The front gallery will feature a selection of works by John McLaughlin (1898 — 1976) including five paintings– the earliest dating from 1956– and a drawing from circa 1970. This exhibition will offer a rare opportunity to view the influential work of this abstract West Coast artist.

For more information, please contact the gallery: (212) 255-1105 or info@paulacoopergallery.com