Carol Bove’s “Polka Dots” at the David Zwirner Gallery

David Zwirner is pleased to present an exhibition of new sculptures by Carol Bove, marking her first show with the gallery in New York. Spanning two adjacent spaces on 525 and 533 West 19th Street in Chelsea, Polka Dots follows the artist’s 2015 exhibition at David Zwirner’s London location.

Bove is known for her assemblages that combine found and made elements. Incorporating a wide range of domestic, industrial, and natural objects, her sculptures, paintings, and prints reveal the poetry of their materials. As the art historian Johanna Burton notes in the catalogue accompanying this exhibition, “Bove brings things together not to nudge associative impulses into free play driven by the unconscious, but rather to conjure a kind of affective tangle that disrupts any singular, historical narrative.”

The exhibition presents a new series of large-scale “collage sculptures” that mark a departure within the artist’s practice. To create these abstract assemblages, which merge various types of sculptural processes from her earlier works and references to art historical precedents, Bove combines three different types of steel. Six-inch square steel tubing that has been crushed and shaped at her studio is arranged with found scrap metals and punctuated by shallow, highly polished discs. The compositions are either fully or partially painted using a palette of bright colors evocative of Willem de Kooning’s painting Woman and Bicycle (1952-1953).

Despite their heavy materiality, the sculptures appear lightweight, flexible, and improvisational. Their alternating surfaces create a play of textures—while the painted steel resembles clay or fabric, the overall forms evoke complex references that go beyond their stylistic appearances.