Maquette for "Sailing" 1976

Seymour Lipton made this sculpture, "Maquette for Sailing," out of metal. The planes feel kind of provisional, like they've been bent and clipped together in stages, which of course they were. When I look at this, I think about how the process is part of the meaning. It's not just the final shape, but how it got there. You can see how the metal is worked, how the surfaces have been hammered and welded. It's honest, you know? Like he's showing you the labor, the construction. The textures are rough and unpolished, letting the material speak for itself. There's a kind of vulnerability in that. And the shape itself, this boat-like form, it's both abstract and representational. It reminds me a little of David Smith's Cubi sculptures, but with a more organic, less industrial feel. It's like Lipton is having a conversation with other sculptors, riffing on ideas, pushing the boundaries of what sculpture can be. Art is always this back and forth, this building on what came before.