Curatorial notes
Curator: Before us, we have Barbara Chase-Riboud's "Bathers," a mixed-media assemblage created in 1972. Editor: It's so stark. That unforgiving sheen of the metal... It feels cold, industrial almost. A strange title choice. Where's the invitation to ease and pleasure usually associated with bathers? Curator: The title is provocative, isn't it? Consider, perhaps, that these bathers are not of flesh and blood. The metal rectangles, their surfaces violently crumpled, topped with dense folds of what seems to be woven rope… It feels incredibly weighty, almost funerary, wouldn't you agree? Editor: Funerary, yes, there's definitely something elegiac here, particularly in the draped, knotted rope. Knots often signify union, bondage, memory even, but here, weighed down by these aggressively geometric, reflecting blocks, it speaks of something… interrupted. A kind of petrified memory, maybe? Curator: Exactly! These contrasting materials become incredibly potent. We have this soft, pliant textile fighting with the rigidity of machine-milled metal. Each metal plate, seemingly identical at first glance, holds an utterly unique pattern of rupture on its surface, a kind of visual poem wrought from violent, mechanical crushing. There is certainly an echo of loss, struggle in this tension. But beyond the struggle, I feel almost an unbearable compassion, too. A reaching for connection. Editor: It's true. And that material memory is powerful. Rope appears throughout human history – binding, lifting, connecting. Paired like this with metal, one could even suggest links to naval history or colonial exploitation. This sculpture makes you question these associations. This artist gives a way to rethink that symbolism from past historical contexts. Curator: What I also admire is that Chase-Riboud pushes sculpture to evoke intense emotional impact through unexpected pairings. The title, too, throws us. There's something about the quiet challenge in it, I think. Editor: Agreed, the piece isn’t passively decorative. In its disquieting juxtapositions and brutal lyricism, it refuses easy comfort, inviting deeper, thoughtful responses. Curator: Indeed. A very brave vision presented so powerfully. Editor: Ultimately, it's haunting. These imagined bathers speak to a complex interplay of historical baggage and poetic grace.