“In his Containment Series, John Outterbridge combined industrial materials with handcrafted pieces and found objects. In form and concept, he explores what makes up boundaries: structural ones like frames; material ones like straps and metal sheets; all of which are suggestive of physical constraints like cells and belts. Five carved faces emerge from within the structure, and their expressive presence speaks powerfully, to me, of the human drive to be free. Outterbridge made this sculpture in 1969, the culminating year of a decade that included major moments of the civil rights movement, anti-war protests, and great social change. Today, the COVID-19 crisis is necessitating another transformation. As social, economic, and racial disparities are thrown into sharp relief, debates of what is the basis for freedom—individual rights or an equitable collective—will occupy us for the months to come and will shape our path forward.”
—Sara Krajewski, The Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
John Outterbridge (American, born 1933). From Within, from “Containment Series,” 1969. Mixed media. Gift of Robin Dunitz, 2017.42.1 © unknown, research required.
In this Artist Talk, Abel speaks about John Outterbridge’s From Within, from Containment Series, 1969, and how it relates to his work.
