{"id":30648,"date":"2025-07-01T19:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T19:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/30648\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T19:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T19:29:10","slug":"ethereal-sculptures-by-karen-lamonte-link-perceptions-of-beauty-femininity-and-nature-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/30648\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethereal Sculptures by Karen LaMonte Link Perceptions of Beauty, Femininity, and Nature \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"

In porcelain, bronze, glass, and stone, Karen LaMonte<\/a>\u2019s sculptures explore ideas around femininity and conventions of beauty throughout history. She nods to time-honored sculptural traditions with silhouettes redolent of, for example, the three marble goddesses of the Parthenon pediment<\/a> that have shaped classical sculpture and exemplified ideals of beauty for millennia.<\/p>\n

LaMonte conceives of lounging or posing figures in her Nocturnes and Etudes series with gowns or robes that appear spectrally inhabited. \u201cLike spoken or written language, beauty is shaped by common idioms and shared experiences that are the foundations of culture,\u201d LaMonte says. \u201cIn this way, it is more than just a description; it is a reflection of a greater whole, a visual representation of what is valued in society.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a\u201cEtude 13\u201d (2017), cast glass, 65.5 x 48.5 x 19 centimeters<\/p>\n

Munson Museum of Art<\/a> just opened a survey of nearly 60 pieces titled Celestial Bodies: Sculpture by Karen LaMonte, exploring the artist\u2019s use of various media. The artist juxtaposes a range of resilient, heavy-duty materials with exaggeratedly draped fabrics associated with softness and vulnerability, interrogating the intrinsic dualities between strength and fragility, visibility and absence, and solidity and transparency.<\/p>\n

Celestial Bodies also includes a multimedia series of scientifically accurate depictions of cumulus clouds that billow ethereally from their bases. \u201cClouds intrigue me because they make visible\u00a0the invisible forces of the natural world,\u201d LaMonte says.<\/p>\n

The more the artist explored the ripples and folds of fabric and drapery in her dress sculptures, the more she began to interpret the body as a landscape shaped and defined by the elements. LaMonte began to explore the notion of weather, and her series Weathering emerged, imbuing cloud forms with an elegant bodily quality.<\/p>\n

Celestial Bodies continues through December 31 in Utica, New York. Find more on LaMonte\u2019s website<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"aGroup of \u201cCumulus (1:8)\u201d (2020\u20132023), various mediums and sizes<\/p>\n

\"a\u201cVortex\u201d 2009, vitreous china, 91 x 330 x 10 centimeters<\/p>\n

\"the\u201cHanako\u201d (2012), bronze, 122.5 x 50 x 44 centimeters<\/p>\n

\"a\u201cReclining Lucent 3\u201d (2022), cast glass, 51.5 x 153 x 65.5 centimeters<\/p>\n

\"a\u201cCumulus (1:8)\u201d<\/p>\n

\"marbleGroup of \u201cCumulus (1:8)\u201d<\/p>\n

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