David Altmejd

The University 2, 2004 The Old Sculptor, 2003 The Outside, The Inside, and The Praying Mantis, 2005

David Altmejd is a Canadian artist, whose complex sculptures mix strong geometric forms with organic elements such as hair and foliage. Altmejd leaves these sculptures wide open to interpretation: they may mean nothing to you or they might strike a chord, which I suppose is true of the majority of modern art. The following is from an interview with the artist, at Life In The Fast Lane:

“I made an installation last year at a gallery in Brussels and two guys were hanging out near the piece during the opening. When they came up to me they said, 'That piece is definitely talking about the Holocaust.' In my mind I thought 'No, not really.' But then I realized that just because I made the object doesn’t mean I get to determine what the object is saying.”

Altmejd's work is very varied, and I'm not actually too keen on his more figurative sculptures; more on the pieces I've chosen here, which look almost like architectural models for fantastic imaginary cities. Take a look at more work at Andrea Rosen Gallery.