Contemporary Art

PETAH COYNE
(American, born 1953)

Untitled #655, 1989
Mixed media
Gift of the New Art Collectors 1990.11

Contemporary artist Petah Coyne draws on emotion, intuition, and the natural world to create her artwork. To facilitate this approach, Coyne works without a preplanned image of the final piece, allowing the sculpture to evolve naturally and spontaneously. Untitled #655 is typical of Coyne’s work from the 1980s and 1990s. Since starting with a framework or structure would determine the overall appearance of the sculpture and disrupt the spontaneity, Coyne worked from the outside in when creating her large, black sculptures. After she built the exterior shell from chicken wire, cloth, paint, and clay or mud, Coyne cut apart the construction to add a steel cable skeleton, which supports the weight of the massive sculpture. When reassembled, the finished piece was dusted with a layer of black sand, a by-product of industrial iron casting. Coyne chose this particular sand because it is non-reflective and, although very fine, it does not become airborne easily.

Suspended from the ceiling, the twenty-foot high sculpture almost touches the ground, accentuating the tension between the force of gravity and the sheer weight and size of the piece. Coyne left the sculpture untitled to encourage the viewer to bring his or her own experiences and interpretations to the piece.