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Exhibition

Corporeal

February 18–July 30, 2023
Floor 5

Corporeal brings together sculptures that explore the figure—whether whole, fragmented, or implied—to consider our place in the world, both as individuals and collectively. These selected works from SFMOMA’s collection rise from the gallery floor to meet visitors at a human scale. Rose B. Simpson’s duo of totemic forms, They Rose 1 and They Rose A (both 2019), reflect on the relationship between trauma and resilience and build on Simpson’s multigenerational, matrilineal lineage of Indigenous artists working with clay. Nick Cave’s Soundsuit (2009) offers an ecstatic costume that obscures a wearer’s gender, race, and class to subvert biases around identity, while Antony Gormley’s Quantum Cloud VIII (1999) embodies the invisible energies that radiate from our bodies through a constellation of branching metal. Additional works by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Rebecca Belmore, Petah Coyne, and others flesh out the presentation.

Exhibition Preview

The artwork Tarpaulin No. 1, by artist Rebecca Belmore, is a ceramic blanket on the ground shaped as though draped over an invisible human figure.
Nick Cave, Soundsuit, 2009; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Accessions Committee Fund purchase, 2010; © Nick Cave; photo: Katherine Du Tiel; courtesy SFMOMA.
Rose B. Simpson, They Rose 1, 2019; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Accessions Committee Fund purchase, 2020; © Rose B. Simpson. Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman, San Francisco, photo: John Wilson White
Antony Gormley, Quantum Cloud VIII, 1999; The Doris and Donald Fisher Collection at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; © Antony Gormley; photo Katherine Du Tiel, courtesy SFMOMA.
Rebecca Belmore, Tarpaulin No. 1, 2018; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Peggy Guggenheim, 2019; © Rebecca Belmore; photo Katherine Du Tiel, courtesy SFMOMA.