Burnt Piece
Jackie Winsor
American, born Canada. 1941–2024
1977-78
A roughly cubic sculpture made of stacked, burnt wooden slats set in cement and reinforced with wire mesh, in which the artist preserves the marks of burning and construction so the object's making remains visible.
You first notice a heavy, blocklike presence whose horizontal, charred seams and small square holes revealing wire mesh give it a layered, sedimentary texture that reads like a burned pallet or archaeological cast.
Work from the Postminimalist 1970s, it takes the formal clarity of a cube but insists on hands-on processes, ordinary and damaged materials, and visible labor, widening sculpture’s vocabulary to include burn, age, and entropy.
Medium
Cement, burnt wood, and wire mesh
Dimensions
33 7/8 x 34 x 34" (86.1 x 86.4 x 86.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Agnes Gund
Accession
90.1991
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
