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Liz Glynn — SMELL CAVE
Liz Glynn

SMELL CAVE

2017

SMELL CAVE, created by Liz Glynn in 2017, commands immediate physical presence through its monumental scale, spanning over five meters in height and nearly eleven meters across. The installation combines glazed stoneware selections from Glynn's Platonic Solids series with powder-coated steel tables, forklift pallet stock, and reclaimed forklift pallets reinforced with steel. The juxtaposition of industrial infrastructure and ceramic forms rooted in ancient geometric philosophy generates a charged tension between the logic of mass distribution and the contemplative tradition of ideal form. Reclaimed pallets, the anonymous skeleton of global commerce, are elevated here into structural and conceptual scaffolding, while the glazed stoneware solids introduce a handmade, almost archaeological register into the composition. Glynn is consistently preoccupied with the archaeology of power, value, and collective memory, and SMELL CAVE distills those concerns into spatial terms a collector can inhabit rather than merely observe. The title itself introduces a sensory and psychological dimension that resists easy resolution, suggesting interiority and primal perception alongside the work's overtly industrial vocabulary. Currently presented at MASS MoCA, the piece demonstrates the artist's capacity to operate at institutional scale without sacrificing intimacy or conceptual precision. For a collector with the architectural ambition and curatorial vision to realize such a work, SMELL CAVE represents a defining acquisition from one of the most rigorous sculptural practices to emerge in recent American contemporary art.

Medium
Selections from the Platonic Solids series (Glazed stoneware) on powder-coated steel tables with forklift pallet stock, reclaimed forklift pallets with steel
Overall
Signed
Yes
Location
MASS MoCA

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About this work

Liz Glynn, SMELL CAVE, 2017

SMELL CAVE, created by Liz Glynn in 2017, commands immediate physical presence through its monumental scale, spanning over five meters in height and nearly eleven meters across. The installation combines glazed stoneware selections from Glynn's Platonic Solids series with powder-coated steel tables, forklift pallet stock, and reclaimed forklift pallets reinforced with steel. The juxtaposition of industrial infrastructure and ceramic forms rooted in ancient geometric philosophy generates a charged tension between the logic of mass distribution and the contemplative tradition of ideal form. Reclaimed pallets, the anonymous skeleton of global commerce, are elevated here into structural and conceptual scaffolding, while the glazed stoneware solids introduce a handmade, almost archaeological register into the composition. Glynn is consistently preoccupied with the archaeology of power, value, and collective memory, and SMELL CAVE distills those concerns into spatial terms a collector can inhabit rather than merely observe. The title itself introduces a sensory and psychological dimension that resists easy resolution, suggesting interiority and primal perception alongside the work's overtly industrial vocabulary. Currently presented at MASS MoCA, the piece demonstrates the artist's capacity to operate at institutional scale without sacrificing intimacy or conceptual precision. For a collector with the architectural ambition and curatorial vision to realize such a work, SMELL CAVE represents a defining acquisition from one of the most rigorous sculptural practices to emerge in recent American contemporary art.

Medium
Selections from the Platonic Solids series (Glazed stoneware) on powder-coated steel tables with forklift pallet stock, reclaimed forklift pallets with steel
Dimensions
overall: 548.6 x 1097.3 x 792.5 cm
Year
2017
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts, United States

Related themes

Mohn Art Collective

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