Large-scale public sculpture at West Bund Museum
Hugs
By Mark di Suvero
Since November 2023 | West Bund Museum North Square
Hugs(2011), Mark di Suvero, West Bund Museum North Square, Shanghai. ©Mark di Suvero and Space C.C., Courtesy of SUSAS, West Bund Museum and Paula Cooper Gallery. Photo: Lawrence Lu.
Against the dynamic backdrop of the 2023 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season (SUSAS), Xuhui Riverside is adorned with over 30 spatial and environmental artworks, presenting the exquisite beauty of "METro-BIOSIS." Building upon the success of previous editions, West Bund Museum is set to reveal another extraordinary public sculpture during this art season, injecting a fresh vibrancy into public spaces.
In early November 2023, the internationally renowned sculptor Mark di Suvero will present his large-scale sculpture Hugs as a key exhibit of SUSAS. This will mark the first showcase of a large-scale public sculpture by the artist within a Chinese art institution, prominently featured in the outdoor public space of West Bund Museum. The towering 15-meter sculpture, composed of steel I-beams, is poised to become a striking landmark along the Xuhui Riverside, enticing the audience to appreciate and explore the organic connection between art and urban spaces.
This sculpture aligns seamlessly with the concept of co-creation and societal art education of West Bund Museum. In harmony with the SUSAS theme of "METro-BIOSIS”, Hugs adds a splash of color to the West Bund Art District. The sculpture beckons spectators to stroll, linger, and navigate its surroundings, offering diverse ways to observe, experience, and interact. Through active participation, audiences will immerse themselves in the vitality and dynamism of this sculptural masterpiece, using art to unveil a fresh perspective on urban spaces, collaboratively painting a vivid art landscape of “METro-BIOSIS.”
Hugs(2011), Mark di Suvero, West Bund Museum North Square, Shanghai. ©Mark di Suvero and Space C.C., Courtesy of SUSAS, West Bund Museum and Paula Cooper Gallery. Photo: Lawrence Lu.
It's worth noting that the artist Mark di Suvero was born in Shanghai, China, in 1933. This distinguished sculptor, a pioneer in the use of steel and unparalleled in the worldwide exhibition of public sculpture, is set to realize his lifelong dream on his ninetieth birthday by exhibiting a large-scale sculpture in the country of his birth, sharing his creations with the Chinese public. With this piece, he once again "hugs" Shanghai, using art to rekindle profound emotional connections that transcend time and space.
Standing over fifteen meters, the pyramidal Hugs is composed of steel I-beams whose three legs intersect in a central, curved form. Its expansive scale allows viewers to engage physically with the work, inducing a kinesthetic response as one walks under and around to perceive it from shifting vantages. Accessibility and viewer participation have long been driving principles in di Suvero’s artistic practice:
When one is an artist, one wants to do art that is meaningful to a lot of people. Most art is shown in museums and galleries, which eliminates a whole population. By putting it out on the streets, you open it up to the world … there’s a great thing that happens when you have outdoor works where people are interacting and searching … I like to do interactive work. I really believe that the piece needs to be all the way around you. We see in about 210 degrees, but you feel what there is at the very edge of vision. With sculpture, you can get inside of it. It gives you a different kind of a feeling.[1]
[1] Mark di Suvero, interviewed by Brienne Walsh: “Orgasmic Space: Q+A With Mark di Suvero,” Art in America, July 1, 2011.
Hugs(2011), Mark di Suvero, West Bund Museum North Square, Shanghai. ©Mark di Suvero and Space C.C., Courtesy of SUSAS, West Bund Museum and Paula Cooper Gallery. Photo: Lawrence Lu.
An internationally renowned artist, di Suvero has created vibrant and dynamic works of sculpture and painting throughout his sixty-year career, fusing vitality and movement with complex construction. His work has been shown consistently in galleries and museums worldwide including exhibitions of outdoor sculpture in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and a number of cities in the United States. In 2023, the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas opened a major exhibition of di Suvero’s work. Public citywide shows have taken place in Paris, France; Venice, Italy; and New York City. Permanent installations of di Suvero’s sculpture are in New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, St. Louis, San Francisco, and among other cities. In New York, di Suvero’s work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Storm King Art Center (Mountainville, NY). In 1985, di Suvero founded Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens, New York, an internationally renowned museum of outdoor sculpture.
Hugs(2011), Mark di Suvero, West Bund Museum North Square, Shanghai. ©Mark di Suvero and Space C.C., Courtesy of SUSAS, West Bund Museum and Paula Cooper Gallery. Photo: Lawrence Lu.
The large-scale public sculpture Hugs would not have been successfully realized without the support of SUSAS, West Bund, West Bund Art & Design; Cara Zhuang, Director Asia Operations at Paula Cooper Gallery and the support of the artist’s studio, Spacetime C.C.
In November, as autumn unfolds, West Bund Museum is introducing a series of open and collaborative art projects in its outdoor public space. These include “Vining Out”, a derivative project of the latest interactive installation exhibition “The Plantamouves”, initiated by artist Cui Jie, the “Shanghai Cai Yuan” project, and two public art pieces created by artist Guo Xi. This artistic extravaganza brings together the beauty of art, ecology, and space, creating a shared habitat where citizens and visitors can explore the emotional resonance of art across time and space. In this outdoor setting, diverse public landscapes and engaging collaborative projects offer a space for people to freely discover the beauty of art through interactions with each other and the city.