During academic year 2009-2010, the Davis Museum will return to view a major work of contemporary sculpture from the permanent collection, American artist Michael Singer’s Ritual Series/Retellings, 1988. The year-long exhibition of this work provides a unique opportunity to compare two major pieces by Singer. His concern with sculpture and its environment is very differently expressed in another work of art at Wellesley: Untitled, 1989-1992, which he made in collaboration the architect Michael McKinnell, and which is permanently on view near Lake Waban on the Wellesley campus.

Both sculptures embody a fundamental element of Singer’s oeuvre: an exploration of the boundaries between sculpture, nature, and architecture. In each work of art, materials like stone, bronze shaped like wood, and wood are layered and enclosed or contained. They evoke ritualistic associations, transforming the viewer into a kind of archaeologist or explorer and heightening awareness of each site: the white cube of the gallery or the lush landscape of the lakeside.

Singer has received numerous awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. His works are part of public collections in the United States and abroad, including the Australian National Gallery, Canberra; Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Join a podcast tour of outdoor sculpture on campus, including Singer’s Untitled near Lake Waban.

Click the image below to watch a time-lapse video of the installation team installing the work

Ritual Series/Retelling (1988), made of wood and stone, was an anonymous gift in honor of Kay Rorimer (Katherine Serrell, Class of 1929). This installation is made possible by the Helyn MacLean ‘80 Endowed Program Fund.