The Isamu Noguchi exhibit at the Portland (Maine) Museum of Art is not for everyone. But, for those who like to charge their imaginations visually, the show is satisfying. It’s at the PMA through January 1. The works shown are a stimulating sample of experiments in form and function by the famed Japanese-American artist, landscape architect, furniture designer, and theater set designer who died in 1988. Notably, a sample of what may be his most famous creation, the Noguchi Coffee Table, is not shown, probably because it has become a production piece.
A wonderful example for form-and-function fans is Noguchi’s large Play Sculpture (1975-76), which is made out of sewer pipe and designed for adults and children who love playgrounds:
Noguchi’s 1986 experiments combining Japanese tradition and American modernism resulted in his Akari Light Sculptures made with silk or paper, bamboo and wire:
.Low-slung furniture experiments by the artist resulted in graceful forms, but (in our opinion) inhospitable living rooms:
Here we see the works of a mind without borders. The three small images are : Memorial to Buddha (1957); My Arizona (1943; while he was a voluntary internee at an internment camp there); Becoming (1966-67). The large image is Black and Blue (1958-59).
Abstract form, natural materials (marble and wood), and function are created in Table (1971):
This is Slide Mantra (1988), perhaps symbolic of the show.
(Portland Maine, December 15, 2018)