Dimensions: object: 298 x 210 x 28 mm
Copyright: © DACS, 2014 | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Here we have Jean Arp's "Impish Fruit," a small wooden sculpture. It resides here at the Tate Collections. Editor: It has a quirky warmth to it. Organic, like a playful seed pod about to burst open. It's not what you expect from sculpture. Curator: Arp was a master of biomorphic abstraction. He sought to capture the essence of natural forms, stripping away literal representation to reveal underlying vitality. Editor: "Impish" really captures it. The shapes are familiar but slightly off, suggesting a mischievous, hidden life within the wood grain. Curator: The wood itself, the layers, the subtle gradations in tone. It evokes growth, layering, and the cyclical nature of life. Editor: It's a celebration of form, a reminder that even in simplicity, there's immense depth and character waiting to be discovered. Curator: Precisely, and perhaps, a quiet rebellion against the rigid structures of the modern world. Editor: Looking at it, I feel grounded and free simultaneously.
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The irregularly rounded shapes of this relief suggest the forms of natural, growing things. This association is emphasised by the title. Arp saw the relentless growth in nature as an indication of spontaneity and intuition that the artist should emulate. He saw these qualities as necessary antidotes to the rationalism of the modern world. Using forms that had denoted a body in an earlier work, he inverted them so that the legs became the impish ears of a new creature. Gallery label, December 2005
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