Joel Shapiro (b. 1941)

“Whether Joel Shapiro's art making humanizes geometry or dehumanizes the figure is moot. Depending upon the viewer's movement, Shapiro's sculpture shifts from the abstract to the figurative, from hyperkinetic flight to collapse, from purely formal to deeply emotional-like a kaleidoscope whose pieces promise, but finally refuse, to settle into resolution.” (K. Kertess, "Dancing with Gravity," exh. cat. Joel Shapiro: New Wood and Bronze Sculpture, New York, 1998, p. 6)