Joe Minter: Freedom and Captivity
"What is freedom? What is captivity? Two opposites. To know what freedom is, is to be free. To know freedom is to know, understand, and feel the air. Man has always wanted to look to the air but he could not fly. For two centuries man has killed himself trying to fly. And he did it, so what is freedom, and what is captivity?" 鈥擩oe Minter
Titled after a sculptural work of the same name, Freedom and Captivity presents five works by Joe Minter at Tops Gallery鈥檚 Madison Avenue Park space, creating a 24/7 meditation on true freedom. Anchored by Minter鈥檚 recent painting, Butterfly at Work, the installation uses the larger metaphor of the garden as a place to grow, debate, and bring forth creative solutions to larger societal and existential questions.
Minter鈥檚 sculptures, installed at ground level, are made using the literal tools of labor: shovels, pickaxes, wheels, and chains. These implements are essential to construction but also to enslavement or oppressive work. Minter鈥檚 sculptures, including The Tools of the Laborer, directly engage both materiality and the historical legacy of the African American experience.
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"What is freedom? What is captivity? Two opposites. To know what freedom is, is to be free. To know freedom is to know, understand, and feel the air. Man has always wanted to look to the air but he could not fly. For two centuries man has killed himself trying to fly. And he did it, so what is freedom, and what is captivity?" 鈥擩oe Minter
Titled after a sculptural work of the same name, Freedom and Captivity presents five works by Joe Minter at Tops Gallery鈥檚 Madison Avenue Park space, creating a 24/7 meditation on true freedom. Anchored by Minter鈥檚 recent painting, Butterfly at Work, the installation uses the larger metaphor of the garden as a place to grow, debate, and bring forth creative solutions to larger societal and existential questions.
Minter鈥檚 sculptures, installed at ground level, are made using the literal tools of labor: shovels, pickaxes, wheels, and chains. These implements are essential to construction but also to enslavement or oppressive work. Minter鈥檚 sculptures, including The Tools of the Laborer, directly engage both materiality and the historical legacy of the African American experience.
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