Sculptural Reconstructions by Robert Gober
Untitled, plaster, beeswax, human hair, cotton, leather, aluminum pull-tabs, enamel
Based in New York, Robert Gober is well known for his sculptural work, which is the subject of an upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. His works are often sculptural reconstructions of things one would find at home, memories of his childhood, and occasionally human legs.The sculptures are incredibly realistic yet slightly absurd when removed from their regular environments and placed in the stark white of a gallery.
Untitled Leg, beeswax, cotton, wood, leather, human hair
Gober is perhaps best known for his sculptures of sinks, which I think are somehow incredibly endearing. It would be easy enough for him to simply install a sink in a gallery, but he instead chooses to construct a sink from scratch, often changing out “normal” materials for more traditionally sculptural ones, creating not a sink but an extremely well-made facsimile of one. It is here that I can see the theme of memory coming through in Gober’s works – our memories are all constructed, not quite the real thing, but the best we can do to recreate the scene.
