I recently stumbled upon a new installation by Joel Shapiro of which I really like the energy it breaths. It was exhibited earlier this year at Rice University Art Gallery in Houston.

The installation, Untitled, is, like all his later works, a gravity defying spectacle of shapes, colors and lines. Wooden geometric elements, painted in vibrant colors, seem to levitate in the air. Visitors can walk through the installation and the shape and color of each individual element changes, as well as how the different elements relate.

In a piece like this, as you walk through it, it reconfigures, which is some essential aspect of sculpture. The sculpture is very different from a painting. It unfolds in time and space.

In 2002, Shapiro started working with the idea of forms free from structure. He uses string or wire to suspend seemingly loose arrangements of painted and unpainted wooden elements.

Photography by Nash Baker.