SAM FALLS

(AMERICAN, BORN 1984)

Spring, 2019 and Super Bloom, 2019

Ceramic, steel I-beams

30 feet x 14 inches

Courtesy of the artist and 303 Gallery, New York, Eva Presenhuber, New York & Zurich, and Galleria Franco Noero, Torino

In his metal and ceramic sculpture, Falls layers scavenged branches, twigs and leaves impressing the available flora into clay to create intricate patterns. Falls worked with Laumeier’s master gardener to curate a customized garden of native flowers and grasses. From their research and now flourishing bounty, Falls has expended the resulting species selections on two-monumental sculptures using I-beams and brightly glazed clay tiles.

The horizontal work, Super Bloom, 2019, is positioned as if struck by a violent thunderstorm and left to be reclaimed by the undergrowth. Carefully inlaid with large fractious tiles, the lyrical blossoms, expressive brush strokes and dribbles of glaze are trapped by a cold industrial building material. Similarly, Spring, 2019, is a vertical beam with cascading vegetation. Here, the ceramic lined totem is staked in the ground, posed in direct relationship to the even loftier trees on the trail, initiating the conversation regarding the natural and built environments.

Sculpture Interaction Guideline: Look, But Do Not Touch

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Sam Falls (b. 1984) was raised in Vermont. He received his BA from Reed College in 2007 and his MFA from ICP-Bard in 2010. He has had solo exhibitions at 303 Gallery, New York, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Trento and Rovereto, Italy; The Kitchen, New York; Ballroom Marfa, Texas; Pomona College Museum of Art; Public Art Fund, New York; and LAXART, Los Angeles, among others. His work has been included in group exhibitions at the Aspen Art Museum, Colorado; Le Consortium, Dijon; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, England; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Menil Collection, Houston; Museo MADRE, Naples; and the International Center of Photography, New York; among others. Falls lives and works in Los Angeles.