Ebonized pearwood, rose and locust thornsexpand_more
Gift of Ruth and David Waterbury in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Minneapolis Institute of Artsexpand_more 2014.107.10a-d
Family Portrait is a group of interconnected, black-painted wood and thorn figures, whose heads are tiny but functional boxes. Sengel is known for his sculptures that are familiar yet menacing, with black surfaces and natural thorns as integral parts of his pieces. Sengel sees the “prickliness” as characteristic of many family gatherings. He explains his motivation for Family Portrait:
“Leafing through an old family photo album and then seeing a batch of locust thorns that I had stuck into a piece of foam board led me to the idea of this piece. Despite the darker, ominous associations of black thorns, an element of whimsy was irrepressible here. I see this as portrait, caricature, silhouette. Ten years later it is still one of my favorites.”
This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.
Does something look wrong with this image? Let us know
No Image Available