Mary Ann Unger: To Shape a Moon from Bone - by Horace D Ballard (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Rising to prominence in the downtown New York art scene in the 1980s and 1990s, multidisciplinary artist Mary Ann Unger (1945-1998) was skilled in graphic composition, watercolor, large-scale conceptual sculpture, and environmentally responsive, site-specific interventions. At the time of her death, Unger was a member of the Guerrilla Girls and acknowledged as a feminist pioneer of neo-expressionist sculptural form. Accompanying Unger's first solo museum presentation in the twenty-first century, this publication aims to revive and redirect cultural and scholarly attention on Unger's pioneering and lyrical practice, which was set aside in favor of the cishet male-dominated narrative of postwar American sculpture. Taking the reprinting of Roberta Smith's 1999 obituary for Unger as its starting place, the book's essays provide the artist her first fulsome consideration within the New York art milieu of her day, tracing Unger's life, her studies, and her network of artists and mentors. Following the exposition of Unger's life and practice, an interview with the artist's daughter will position Unger's legacy within the collaborative discourse and activism of a multigenerational family of artists. Two other essays will closely examine Unger's work in the context of contemporary conversations around feminist revisionings of history and modes of cultural appropriation and inspiration in her oeuvre. The catalogue concludes with a bibliography of various texts for further reading, in hope that such a reconsideration gives rise to further scholarly interest in Unger's practice"--

Book Synopsis

On the feminist sculpture and interventions of the Guerrilla Girls member and veteran of New York's 1980s art scene

Rising to prominence in the downtown New York art scene of the 1980s and 1990s, Mary Ann Unger (1945-98) was skilled in graphic composition, watercolor, large-scale conceptual sculpture and environmentally responsive, site-specific interventions. Unger was a member of the Guerrilla Girls and is acknowledged as a feminist pioneer of neo-expressionist sculptural form.
This monograph brings together 50 images of the artist's work, often monumental sculpture formed into organic shapes. Taking the reprinting of Roberta Smith's 1999 obituary for Unger as a starting point, the book's essays provide the first full consideration of Unger, tracing her life, her studies and her network of artists and mentors. This catalog also includes an interview with Unger's daughter, the artist Eve Biddle.