Lynda Benglis was first recognised in the late sixties with her poured latex and foam work. Known for her exploration of metaphorical and biomorphic shapes, she is concerned with the physicality of form and how it affects the viewer. Benglis uses a wide range of materials to create dynamic impressions of mass and surface; soft becomes hard, hard becomes soft and gestures are frozen.
In the 1990s Benglis began working with clay and in the 2010s she started producing a series of works she called Elephant Necklace. She would push clay through an extruder and twist it into the shape of the sculpture. These forms were then enlarged, bearing all the marks of manipulation and making that went into them. It is hard not to read these works as somehow biological. Benglis has said that they are inspired by blown-out tyres abandoned along motorways.
LYNDA BENGLIS (American, b.1941)
glazed ceramic
Acquired in 2023
