Untitled (Hanging, Two Lobed, Interlocking Continuous Forms Within Forms)

Ruth Asawa’s Untitled (Hanging, Two-Lobed, Interlocking Continuous Forms within Forms) utilizes the unique properties and possibilities of wire as a sculptural material. Employing a basket-making technique that she learned on a visit to Mexico in 1947, Asawa exploits wire’s essence: wire can be threaded in precise, exacting loops; though flexible, it is rigid enough to hold its own shape without need of an armature; due to its light weight, it can be easily suspended; and because it is thin, yet strong, it can occupy a maximal volume with minimal mass. By deploying wire as both surface and structure, Asawa’s mesh sculpture fulfills the modernist art philosophy of “truth to materials,” which dictates that the form of a work should emerge from its physical properties.