Untitled 2009

Charles Long made this unnamed assemblage sculpture out of mixed media. It's as if he's asking, how can separate elements coalesce into something unexpected? The light palette and tentative construction make the objects seem almost provisional. The lower form has a porous, organic quality, as if it's grown rather than been made. Up above, the linear metalwork feels like a 3-D drawing in space, supporting another biomorphic form. Long allows each element to retain its own character, creating a kind of conversation. There’s a push-pull between the handmade and the industrial, the organic and the geometric. It reminds me a little of Eva Hesse's playful approach to materials, using the medium to reveal process and make a unique visual language.