Art & Object Fall Fair 2024

In the Studio

her, “like a conductor.” In this way, she explains, “I let mate rials emphasize their own character,” waiting until they look right. She pho tographs them at each point, intuitive ly stopping, not knowing how a work will turn out. Moyer draws abstraction in all its suggestiveness and ambiguity from the objects around her, not least from the wide range of literature she consumes, ranging from Saul Bellow’s novel Herzog , a favorite of hers, to the theater of Jean Genet and Arthur Miller. She focuses on the feelings and emotions they con vey rather than on their explicit content. It’s the look of ideas, memories, stories, and emotions that she seeks to achieve. Piece by piece, Moyer explores land scape and tries to fix her place in it. Her work plays in counterpoint with her husband’s, interacting with the weight of his painted forms, his energy, and his constant free-associating. Last year at the Parrish, when her work was paired with Lynda Benglis’s, Moyer revealed, she says, how “Beng

lis’s work is at the root of two essen tial components that run throughout my own practice: it introduced me to a landscape that has literally infused my work, and it provided me with a visual

exit to the museum. A truck arriv ing from Virginia pulled up with two huge blocks of marble destined to be installed in the opening gallery, rep resenting the final ingredient in this grand studio visit. The two enormous puzzle pieces were to remain in their rough, raw state, never to be joined, but designed to sit side by side as examples of remarkable strength and eloquence. Rushing to greet their much-anticipated arrival were Moyer’s husband, Eddie, her stu dio assistant, Mary Provenzano, and Moyer’s son, Arthur, who came flying into his mother’s arms with an exu berant embrace and an eagerness to reveal how much he loved the works and how he had contributed to the show by applying masking tape to hold pieces in place, as well as by suggesting titles. And he was right about the messages. They are hard and strong. A Barbara MacAdam is a New York-based freelance writer, editor, and curator, who con tributes regularly to Art and Object and The Brooklyn Rail , among other publications.

PHOTO: JASON SCHMIDT

Sam Moyer.

guide to cultivating my own collabora tive relationship with material”—and, clearly, with other artists’ work, as well. At the end of my tour, tackling these three recent chapters in Moyer’s career, I witnessed a lot of excitement by the

COURTESY THE ARTIST

Installation view, Backgammon Boards , 2024 pigmented concrete and marble, pigmented urethane checkers.

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Art&Object | Fall 2024