Sculpture to be Lost in the Forest _{(Jean Arp, Dadaism)}

Arp usually created his sculptures in plaster, sanding away until he found the satisfying shape, and thought up the titles only when the work was complete. This sculpture, Sculpture to be Lost in the Forest, a bronze cast of an earlier plaster form, resembles a configuration of heavy objects: boulders, sacks, or figures on a bed. Rooted in Arp's lifelong fascination with the physiological processes of growth and death, the work's title strongly suggests some sort of landscape, but evokes multiple associations that shift as one looks at the work. This is exactly how the artist wanted it. Like Duchamp and others in the Dada circle, Arp believed that the viewer completes the work of art. Sculpture to be Lost in the Forest is a prime example of Arp's ability to balance abstraction with allusion. His forms are constantly in flux and morphing, sometimes toward and sometimes beyond recognition.

Arp's Other Works