On Arlene Shechet’s latest idiosyncratic and playful sculptures

This volume brings together more than a dozen of New York–based artist Arlene Shechet’s (born 1951) most recent sculptures, colorful engrossing assemblages in wood, clay and bronze, include large-scale works and a monumental outdoor piece. Though her works appear effortless and forgiving of imperfections, they are the products of an intuitive and technically fastidious approach, involving casting, painting, firing, carving, stacking, undoing and redoing with no predetermined endpoint.

This exhibition catalog illustrates each work in the show in detail and includes installation images that walk the reader through the exhibition. Utilizing a word that is both verb and a noun, Shechet reclaims misogynist slang. As if to counter this term’s reduction of women to passive things, Shechet’s unruly polymorphous sculptures suggest that objects themselves are active and subversive. This volume features a new essay by scholar Rachel Silveri and interviews with the artist.