ITHACA REGAINED
GREEK ARTISTS IN NEW YORK
Athena Tacha
Volcano, 2003
Extruded polystyrene insulation, powder pigments, acid-free glue,
red self-hardening clay, brown acrylic-latex-silicone caulk, red sand,
6 x 16.25 x 11.25 inches
Well known as one of
the country’s leading artists in environmental sculpture and design of
public spaces, Tacha works concurrently on smaller sculpture, drawings, photography,
film, and conceptual art. Reflecting the artist’s love of nature and worldwide
travel, in which she faces a challenge familiar to landscape painters but new
to sculptors, her work captures the awesome scale of a natural setting and the
passage of time as a three-dimensional object.
Small sculptures of
archetypal canyons, volcanoes, caves, waves, and waterfalls, made with an innovative
mix of materials, are based on the sculptor’s lifelong interest in the
forms of natural phenomena. Consistent with this interest, her serial photographs
contradict the inherent rectangularity of the medium with an unexpected fluidity.
Her work is represented in the country’s leading museums, including the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Cleveland Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and numerous others. Among books on her art, "Dancing in the Landscape: the Sculpture of Athena Tacha" (Editions Ariel, Grayson Publishing) appeared in 2000.