

Up Down Around
2011
"Up Down Around" (2011) channels the kinetic restlessness that defines Joel Shapiro's sculptural practice into the flat plane of the lithographic sheet. Measuring nearly a meter tall and well over a meter wide, the composition deploys interlocking geometric forms in bold color, generating a sense of torque and movement that recalls the precarious, energized assemblies for which Shapiro has become internationally recognized. The scale commands attention, while the lithographic medium allows for a directness of mark and a density of hue that translate his three-dimensional sensibility into something entirely native to the print. Produced in a tightly controlled edition of 45 and hand-signed by the artist, the work carries the same considered authority as the sculptures that have appeared in permanent collections ranging from the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Shapiro has spent more than five decades investigating how abstract form can carry expressive weight, and this print demonstrates that the inquiry extends fully into his works on paper. The tension implied in the title, a vocabulary of opposing directions held in suspension, is made visible through the composition's competing vectors and the interplay of color across the sheet. For collectors drawn to artists whose work occupies a serious and sustained place in the history of postwar and contemporary art, "Up Down Around" offers a rare point of access to a practice that has been honored by retrospectives at institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Walker Art Center, the Nasher Sculpture Center, and Yale University Art Gallery. Offered through the Storm King Art Center Benefit Auction, the print carries a provenance tied directly to one of the foremost sculpture environments in the world, where Shapiro's bronze "Untitled" (1994) remains a fixture of the permanent collection.
- Medium
- Color lithograph
- Sheet
- Signed
- Yes
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