JOURNEY2
Sculpture Magazine, November 2008, page 72
By Sarah Tanguy
Heineman Myers Contemporary Arts

Journey, a concurrent show at Heineman Myers, surveyed his indoor sculpture as a complementary form of personal discovery. In particular, Passage 2 and the maquette, Abstract Form, emphasized his keen design and his passion for wood and joining parts, along with his ongoing exploration of inside and outside. The maquette attested to Sham being able to create successfully on any scale and have a small work feel monumental. It also expressed his ability to produce marvels of engineering and association. In this case, the double curve of its staggered contour suggested an architectural or topographical structure in motion, as well as a geometric version of the face in Edvard Munch’s Scream. The presence of occasional Lucite blocks amidst the wooden ones lent translucency, their light-reflecting surfaces in dramatic contrast to the dark passages of the fissure and interstices. The mixing of different colors within a warm, natural palette reached a new high in the curvaceous Passage 2, which alternated closed courses of Australian Red Gum and various species of hard wood. Here a curved wooden “dowel” linked a tall, standing component with a second one that met the wall at a slight incline. From the side, the work evoked water flowing downward from a smaller to a larger vessel, even as it played with our sense of gravity and balance. Both shows highlighted Sham as a master stacker, with a nimble mind and agile hand. In Buddhism, flow refers to an expanded state of consciousness and his Reston installation certainly conveyed this openness to change and transformation. An extended ritual, repeated but never quite the same, the collaboration gave his interest in physical joints a spiritual dimension. Even more, the work inspired lasting joy. From mass-produced materials to individual expression, it celebrated the participation in something larger than oneself and the satisfaction of communal creation. Art historian Sarah Tanguy lives and works in Washington, DC.

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