Robert Morris: Monumentum 2015-2018

On Robert Morris’ final sculptural works, which express a shift toward more baroque and allegorical elements

Documenting the first exhibition dedicated to American conceptualist Robert Morris (1931-2018) since his death, Monumentum 2015-2018 presents a series of works produced in the final years of the artist’s life.

Both series are comprised of sculptures depicting human figures: the first, MOLTINGSEXOSKELETONSSHROUDS, are made of Belgian linen soaked in resin and placed over models to take on their form; the second series, Boustrophedons, consists of works rendered in carbon fiber, and were exhibited respectively in 2015 and 2017 at the Castelli Gallery in New York. The spatial design of the two series as they were exhibited at the Galleria Nazionale of Rome was agreed with Morris himself before his death.

Morris’ last sculptural works mark a shift in his formal vocabulary, free from the imperatives of order and abstraction typical of the American avant-garde of his time.