Will Clift - Interplays

WILL CLIFT INTERPLAYS

WILL CLIFT INTERPLAYS SANTA FE / NEW YORK 2018

REACHING OUT FROM THE CENTER 2017 black Walnut wood 16 x 62 x 2 inches

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CIRCULAR STUDY IN TEN PIECES 2017 wood, carbon fiber composite, powdered copper 35 1/2 x 32 1/2 x 2 inches

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EXTENDING UP, VERSION 4 2018 wenge wood 33 x 15 1/2 x 2 inches

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THREE PIECES WITH TWO APPROACHING, BUT NOT MEETING 2017 sapele wood 6 x 44 1/2 x 2 inches 9

TEN PIECES REACHING UP AND OVER 2015 hardwood, carbon fiber composite, metallic finish 39 x 44 x 2 inches

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THREE TRIOS, OUT AND DOWN 2017 Wood, carbon fiber composite 10 1/2 x 71 1/2 x 2 inches

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DIMINISHING FORM, SUSPENDED 2018 black walnut wood 16 x 77 x 2 inches

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TWO TRIANGULAR FORMS 2017 sapele wood 95 x 37 x 4 1/2 inches

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IN AND OVER, A PROGRESSION IN THREE PARTS 2018 black walnut wood, braided steel cable from the left: 27 1/2 x 27 x 2 inches, 23 x 28 1/2 x 2 inches, 17 1/2 x 25 x 2 inches

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THREE CURVING BACK OVER EACH OTHER 2017 sapele wood 27 x 21 1/2 x 2 inches

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TWO FORMS, NESTED 2017 black walnut wood 28 x 20 x 7 inches

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REACHING UP, OUT, AND BACK 2018 wenge wood 35 x 44 x 17 1/2 inches

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LEANING BACK AND LIFTING UP 2017 sapele wood 26 1/2 x 32 1/2 x 2 inches

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COMING IN AND OVER, AROUND THE CENTER 2018 wood, carbon fiber composite 32 1/2 x 42 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches

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A TRIO OF EXTENDING FORMS 2018 wood, carbon fiber composite 36 1/2 x 33 x 2 inches

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TWO PAIRS INTERSECTING AT AN ANGLE 2018 sapele wood 30 1/2 x 35 1/2 x 8 inches

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CONCAVE / CONVEX, A TRIANGULAR FORM 2017 cherry wood 27 1/2 x 13 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches

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MURMURATION STUDY 1 2018 wood, carbon fiber composite 41 1/2 x 27 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches

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TWO TRIANGULAR FORMS, STACKED 2017 cherry wood 45 1/2 x 16 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches

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OFFSET REFLECTION 2017 carbon fiber composite, steel, wood, powdered copper 22 x 65 x 2 inches

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TWO FORMS, NESTED 2018 carbon fiber composite, steel, silicon carbide 96 1/2 x 68 x 25 inches

TITLE OF SCULPTURE Year Material Dimensions

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THREE SIMPLE CURVES 2016 carbon fiber composite, steel, silicon carbide coating 137 x 63 x 6 1/2 inches

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FOUR PIECES OUT AND UP 2016 Carbon fiber composite, steel, silicon carbide 44 x 131 x 6 inches

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BENDING BACK, A PAIR 2017 mahogany wood, carbon fiber composite, copper powder 96 x 68 x 25 inches

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ENCLOSING FORM, REACHING TOGETHER 2015 carbon fiber composite, steel, copper powder 52 1/2 x 58 1/2 x 5 inches

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INTERPLAYS | GERALD PETERS GALLERY 2018 Entropy is the tendency of systems to move from order to disorder. It’s everywhere around us. But resisting entropy — developing and preserving structures — is very much a part of being human, and is a central aspect of every form of life.

In my sculptures I explore the line between order and disorder, combining intersecting parts into a whole that stands in delicate equilibrium on a small foot. Each work is inherently precarious, yet ultimately poised and stable, overcoming entropy. I use this narrow point of balance to connect viewers to something beyond the sculptural object itself. In each static form is tension, the suggestion of gesture or movement, the ephemeral moment between breathing in and out. There’s potency and power in equilibrium, as well as grace, when the point of balance is reached.

As I would have said in my days as an engineer, this point of balance is where potential energy transitions into kinetic energy, and a form narrowly balanced can appear to contain both. For me the balance and the form in my sculptures are inseparable from each other, and I develop them through intuition, rather than any sort of calculation.

The poet Stanley Kunitz once described a poem’s structure as a way for it to contain and hold energy, and that the energy soon leaks out of a poorly formed work. I’ve found the same to be true with sculpture. After twenty years of creating works like this, what others might see as a stylistic constraint is, for me, a language that I’m still learning, one that enables the expression of something I experience but otherwise couldn’t communicate.

In “Interplays,” I present work informed by three influences from my recent life. The first was a six-month position as Visiting Artist at Stanford University in 2016, during which I collaborated both with artists working in other media, and with researchers in fields outside the arts, from dance and musical composition to the structural engineering and material science that make up our built and natural environments. These projects helped me dig deeper into form and balance by expanding the frame within which I work, from considering the assembly and disassembly of a sculpture as part of the artwork, to creating sculptures that extend out of the single plane or suggest a development over time and space. A video of “In a Winter Garden,” one of these collaborations, will be on display.

The second influence has been a move back to Santa Fe, where I’ve immersed myself in the raw, essential forms of the high desert.

Many of the sculptures in this exhibit will have a connection to this place, whether in the physical shape of a sculpture, or in the materials they contain.

Lastly, over the past several years I’ve continued to explore new materials and structures, honing the use of everything from wood, to composite, to steel and concrete. This has allowed me to push beyond previous physical limits in my work, create site-specific indoor and outdoor sculptures, and recently to develop plans for a 50-foot tall monumental outdoor work.

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For Further Information Please Contact: Evan Feldman, Director (505) 954-5700 | efeldman@gpgallery.com 1005 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 Alice Levi Duncan, Director (212) 628-9760 | aduncan@gpgalleryny.com 24 East 78th Street, New York, New York 10075

Cover image: COMING IN AND OVER, AROUND THE CENTER, 2018, wood, carbon fiber composite, 32 1/2 x 42 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches Title page image: CONCAVE / CONVEX, A TRIANGULAR FORM, 2017, cherry wood, 27 1/2 x 13 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches Š 2018 Gerald Peters Gallery. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, including photocopying, recording or information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.