OBJECT/SHADOW - Larry Kagan Sculpture

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LARRY KAGAN OBJECT /SHADOW The Butler Institute of American Art 

LARRY KAGAN 

OBJECT/SHADOW 

Installations of Steel and Light 

The Butler Institute of American Art

LARRY KAGAN 


The Butler Institute of American Art 

The Beecher Center

Bald Eagle, 2005 

Director’s Statement 

So much of the art that has endured through time has been seen as both 

complex and conceptually mysterious. One thinks of Diego Velasquez’s 

great work “Las Meninas,” which continues to enthrall and engage us in unraveling 

its spatial mysteries. We might consider as well the paintings of 

Cezanne which seem never to reveal the visual magic that the modern master 

employed. The works of Larry Kagan present no less of a mystery. 

These are works that entice us to get involved on multiple levels. The physical 

aspect of the work with its highly complex linear elements of twisted 

metal are reminiscent of the compositions so identified with the drawings 

of Jackson Pollock. And like Pollock, the lines are purposeful, but unlike any 

artist in history, Kagan’s lines make possible a shadowed image of total 

shock and surprise. This imagery which exists in shadowed form only appears 

as alchemy. How is it that a totally abstract linear physical composition 

could make possible a recognizable image of perfect clarity? 

In a sense, Larry Kagan’s work is not only about formal art; it is also 

about visual phenomenology. We look, we question, and then we look 

again. And while this would be a proper process for the enjoyment and 

deeper appreciation of all art, it is a requirement for this art. Even though 

Kagan might ask much from his viewers, what we gain from the work is 

worth the journey. 

Louis A. Zona 

Director 

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Tap Dancer, 2004

Object/Shadow: Notes on 

a Developing Art Form* 

Object/shadow is my term for a new category 

of sculpture that I have been working 

on for the past dozen years. The term defines 

a condition wherein a solid component 

of the sculpture casts a specific shadow that 

completes the artwork. Sculpture traditionally 

relies on mass to create its form. 

Shadow-art derives primarily from the novelty 

of the silhouette. Object/shadow need 

both the solid and the shadow in order to 

exist. And, by virtue of their dual nature, 

they exhibit surprising visual behavior that 

defies our visualization rules for objects… 

Larry Kagan 

*Excerpts in the catalog are from the publiction Art from Start 

to Finish, Chapter 9. Edited by Howard S. Becker, Robert R. 

Faulkner, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. The University of 

Chicago Press, Chicago London. © 2006 University of Chicago. 

By written permission. 

Box II, 2000 Pump, 2001 

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Drawing with Steel 

…To be seen effectively, my steel assemblages 

required a neutral backdrop - a wall. 

I began to “draw” with steel on the wall, 

shamelessly stealing at least a few of my 

teacher Stankiewicz’† ideas. I saw how he 

hung his steel constructions on the wall, 

leaving their interior elements energized, 

and I did likewise. Putting steel fragments 

on a wall brought them nearer to the viewers, 

and allowed the sculptural elements to 

utilize pictorial language for expressive and 

narrative purposes. I also learned about 

scale from Richard. The intimacy of the 

work had power because it could be seen 

up close by the viewer - where tactility matters, 

and where the rich surface of the steel 

could do its work… 

† Richard Stankiewicz (1923 -1983) was a recognized American 

Abstract Expressionist Assemblage Artist 

…Using shadows in a narrative fashion is 

not a mainstream art practice. Even now, 

there are probably no more than a dozen 

artists who are working in this medium and 

fewer who have achieved any significant visibility. 

Art dealers and curators are also at a 

loss when it comes to shadows… 

LEFT 

Point Guard, 2001 

RIGHT 

Great Book, 2004

Drawing with Shadow 

The act of drawing ordinarily requires picking 

up a pencil and making a mark on a surface. 

The mark is normally invested with 

some visual information. To draw with 

shadow, you suspend something in space 

that will interrupt a beam of light to make a 

mark. Instead of executing a drawing stroke, 

you suspend or attach a cantilever… 

…While making a mark on a piece of paper 

is automatic, making a shadow mark entails 

a physical building process that requires 

stepping back and applying an extra level of 

analysis. This involves much more work, but 

it also opens up new creative possibilities… 

this is where the fun comes in. By not having 

a one-to-one mapping between shadow 

and object, all kinds of new object/shadow 

relationships become possible… 

Intersection of Two Circles, 2003

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The Role of Shadow in 

Cognition 

…We are more or less aware of the presence 

of shadows, since they tell us something 

about our environment, but we do 

not actually look at them - unless they call 

attention to themselves by some unfamiliar 

or unexpected behavior. My challenge was 

to induce viewers to actually look at the 

shadow rather than solely at the steel. I 

began shifting more of the narrative burden 

to shadow. The more content the eyes 

could detect in the shadow, the more time 

and attention they would expend on exploring 

its details… 

Taking Aim, 2002

Discoveries 

…simply finding that it was possible to give 

both shadow and solid equal and complementary 

visual roles in describing a single 

image was a step forward. 

…a “new kind of thing”: an object that is 

half solid and half shadow - a hybrid. Imagine 

an object/shadow line drawing of a 

cube. Half is drawn in steel and half in 

shadow. Together they constitute a complete 

cube. Simple to be sure, but there are 

no objects like this in nature. 

Cone, 2000 

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Speculations 

…One curious element is the degree to 

which each point of the object/shadow is 

related to the others. Exactly how many coordinates 

and data points are required to 

completely describe and locate each point in 

space? If all of the variables such as the x,y, 

and z coordinates of the steel, the angle of 

inclination, distance and beam spread of the 

light, and the permeability of the medium 

that the light is traveling through are 

counted, do they indicate that these works 

occupy something other than a simple 

three-dimensional space?... 

I generally like to hang these object/shadow 

in my studio with their light sources turned 

off, pleased just to know that there is something 

lurking—a mystery. 

Nesting, 2001 

Frankfurt Chair, 2002

Mosquito I, 2007

Beach Chair, 2001

F-16, 2003

Poodle, 2005 

CHASING SHADOWS 

Shadow play has been Larry Kagan’s obsession for the past dozen years or 

so, when he first began making Object/Shadow—his term for his singular, 

spectacular steel wall sculptures/drawings that combine the fixed and the 

transient, the two and three-dimensional, mass and the insubstantial, the 

one an avatar of the other and co-dependent. They are two-part 

inventions—the steel the “conundrum, the pre-cognition, and delivery 

system” while the shadow is the unexpected, ephemeral response. It’s a 

“push in two directions,” Kagan says, “with a certain dissonance.” He has 

observed that people are only peripherally conscious of shadows in nature; 

they do not really notice them. If the shadow is missing in a representation, 

however, they will sense that something is wrong. “My challenge was to 

induce viewers to look at the shadow” and is a much more intricate and 

sophisticated version of the game that most likely every child has played, 

shaping fingers and fists illuminated by a source of light to create an array 

of figures on a blank wall. 

Shadow play has a long history. Imagine prehistoric cave dwellers 

huddled around a fire gazing at premonitory shadows cast on rocky walls, 

revering and replicating them or, jumping forward, consider Plato’s allegory 

of the cave in which its captive inhabitants mistook the shadows of things 

for the things themselves. Shadow theatre is also part of that venerable 

heritage, brought to Paris from the East in the 18 th century, and became a 

popular form of entertainment. Portrait silhouettes—essentially a shadow 

and related to cut-paper works—were also in vogue in Europe then and 

especially beloved by the Victorians, a genre updated in the projects of Kara 

Walker, Paul Chan, Tim Noble, Sue Webster and other contemporary 

artists. 

24 25 

Lilly Wei

Kagan, however, a superb draftsman fascinated by line, wants to 

make a real drawing out of steel and shadow, one that is as detailed and 

subtly executed as its counterpart on paper, not merely an outline. He 

begins with the shadow, what he wants the image on the wall to be, then 

works out the configuration in steel. He uses scrap steel since he prefers 

commonplace, non-art materials that are readily available—a criterion 

inspired by his teacher Richard Stankiewicz—and his lighting is simple, MR 

16 low voltage track lights, based on the same principle. Kagan says he 

“goes out of his way to create the unexpected,” a visual, “encrypted” 

disconnect between the steel structure that, at times, resembles a tangled 

briar patch or even spaghetti and a shadow image that can be complex or 

simple. 

They are a hybridized positive/negative entity; the steel 

(contradicting its actuality) is the negative and the impermanent shadow is 

the positive. It’s not possible to determine the cast picture by the steel 

construct unless you know what you are looking for. Some of the simplest 

shadows—a filled-in, dark oval shape, a circle, and open circular loop with a 

double shadow (not in this show)—are the results of the most delirious steel 

formations. As his technique developed and his pictorial language became 

richer, he has been able to achieve ever more astonishing resolutions, from 

drawings of boxes within boxes, chairs, jet fighters, books to full-scale 

images of a basketball player in action or a dandy in a tuxedo. He has 

learned, for instance, how to make the shadow denser, curve it or straighten 

it, how to blur or sharpen lines so that they resemble ink, pencil, pastel or 

charcoal wall drawings. He can also vary the tonality of shadows in a single 

work so that they range from dark to light. One recent projection—the 

circular loop—consists of a lighter and darker circle, the former appearing 

to be casting a shadow of itself. Both, however, are insubstantial. The 

deception doubled—nothing casting a shadow of nothing—it glimmers as 

an apt metaphor for the illusion that is art. 

Kagan studied engineering in college before switching to art, 

preferring its freedom of expression, its lack of utility. Nonetheless, he 

approaches his production with a certain scientific methodology in which 

one work is the starting point for the next in a series of explorations of form 

and content. He has written that the constituent parts of his Object/Shadow 

“must serve three roles at once: as objects that have material characteristics 

(texture, sensuality); as specific forms that embody a living process (time, 

entropy); and as building blocks in a larger composition (narrative, 

content).” The tension created by these three roles clamoring for the 

viewer’s attention is what he is looking for. He also asks an intriguing 

question, based on the kind of space, time and light that comprise his 

Object/Shadow: Do these works occupy something other than a simple 

three-dimensional space? Whether it does and whatever else it is, it is a 

multi-dimensional experience, an arresting optical drama vested in the 

perceptual, phenomenological and philosophical that Kagan, engineer, artist 

and spellbinding magician, gleefully translates. 

Lilly Wei is a New York-based critic and independent curator. 

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Larry Kagan 

333 West 57 th Street 

New York, NY 10019 

www.larrykagansculpture.com 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 

2009 

Object/Shadow. The Butler Institute 

of American Art, Youngstown, OH 

2008 

The Grand Illusion. Louis K. Meisel 

Gallery, NYC 

2007 

OK Harris Works of Art, NYC 

Object/Shadow Installation. Neiman 

Marcus, Dallas , TX 

2006–5 

Tribe Art Tour. Spazio Etoile, Rome, 

Italy 

Ombres et Lumiere. Centre Georges 

Pompidou, Paris, France 

Tribe Art Tour. Solo Exhibitions: La 

Triennale di Milano, Italy; Ex 

Bologna Motori, Bologna; Sala 

Espace, Torino. 

Larry Kagan. O.K. Harris Works of 

Art, NYC 

The Essence of Line. Concordia 

Gallery, Concordia College, 

Bronxville, NY 

The Reserve of Form. Vienna 

Künstlerhaus, Austria 

Seeing Is Believing: American Trompe 

l’Oeil. New Britain Museum of 

American Art, New Britain, CT 

The Medium is the Message. Flint 

Institute of Arts, Flint, MI 

Subject: Object. O.K. Harris Works of 

Art, NYC 

The Secret of Shadow. German 

Architecture Museum, Frankfurt, 

Germany 

Camino Real Gallery, Boca Raton, 

FL 

Albany Institute of History and Art, 

Albany, NY 

2001 

O.K. Harris Works of Art, NYC 

Figurative Explorations. Monique 

Goldstrom Gallery, NYC 

2000 


1999 


1998 


SELECTED ARTICLES/ 

REVIEWS/BOOKS 

Art from Start to Finish. Edited by 

Howard S. Becker, Robert R. 

Faulkner, Barbara 

Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. The University 

of Chicago Press, Chicago. London. 

© 2006 University of Chicago. 

Hartford Advocate, Aug 5, 2004, 

What You See Is What You Get by Patricia 

Rosoff 

The New York Art World, March 

29

2003 issue, Short List by Lily Faust 

Salvage, Issue 03, Shadowing a 

profile by Heather MacDonald 

Gallery Guide, NYC, Cover Review, 

Volume 5, #9, February 1, 2000, 

Larry Kagan by Herbert Reichert 

The New York Times, Art In Review 

February 4, 2000 by Grace Glueck 

The New Yorker, August 6, 2001, 

Galleries Downtown 

The Boston Globe, August 9, 1995, 

Nature Gets into the Act by Christine 

Temin 

The New York Times, December 20, 

1998, The Powers of Light by Helen 

A. Harrison 

Sculpture, January/ February 1999 

Dispatches by Jane Ingram Allen 

Newsday, January 8, 1999, 

Illuminating Works by Annabelle 

Kerins 

FOREIGN PUBLICATIONS 

Corriere Della Sera, Milan, 4 Nov. 

2004, L’artista che crea le ombre, by 

Chiara Vanzetto 

La Repubblica, Milan, 4 Nov 2004, Il 

mago Americano delle ombre cinesi 

by Chiara Gatti 

Giessener Anzeiger, 11 July 2005, 

Kombination swischen Mathematik, 

Kunst und Physik. 

Cronaca, Torino, 11 Jan 2005. 

“Arriva la ‘Tribe Art’ firmata Larry 

Kagan” 

Il Domani, 19 Nov 2004. “Sculture 

Fatte D’Ombra” by Irene Bisi 

La Repubblica, ed Bologna, 18 Nov 

2004. “Pistole e Cowboy per Kagan 

son fili Il d’arte” by Paola Naldi 

Giornale d’Italia, 29 Jan 29 2005. 

“Larry Kagan, artista in ombra” by 

Eloisa Covelli 

Il Giornale ed. Roma, 29 Jan 2005. “I 

dubbi artistici di Larry Kagan tra 

realismo e astrazione” by Giacomo 

Bondi 

Repubblica ed Roma, 30 Jan 2005. 

“Larry Kagan, fili d’acciaio per il 

cowboy e l’e-mail” by Linda de 

Sanctis 

Il Tempo Dell’Arte, Roma, 28 Jan 

2005. “Volumi D’Ombra” by 

Cristina Spinella 

Focus, Feb 2005, “Il Mago Delle 

Ombre” 

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLEC- 

TIONS/COMMISSIONS 

Norton Simon, Passadena, CA 

Albany Institute of History and Art, 

Albany NY 

Schenectady Museum, Schenectady, 

NY 

The Jewish Museum, New York, NY 

Keycorp, Albany, NY 

Rensselaer (RPI), Troy, NY 

State University of New York 

USIS, St. Petersburgh, Russia 

New York State Legislature, Albany, 

NY 

Empire Blue Cross Corporation 

The Hunter Museum, Chattanooga, 

TN 

Flint Institute of the Arts, Flint, MI 

Mathematikum, Giessen, Germany 

Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, 

NJ 

University of Toronto, Ontario, 

Canada 

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Exhibition Checklist 

Box II, 2000 

Steel: 21 x 31 x 10¾ inches 

Steel with shadow: 

34 x 35 x 10¾ inches 

Light Location: 

6 inches to right of center 

Distance from wall: 42 inches 

Distance from floor: 12 feet 

Cone, 2000 

Steel: 18 x 40 x 13 inches 


34 x 49 x 13 inches 


17 inches to left of center 



Point Guard, 2001 

Steel: 31 x 29 x 16¼ inches 


61 x 33 x 16¼ inches 





Beach Chair, 2001 








Nesting, 2001 

Steel: 22 x 31½ x 17¼ inches 


53 x 38 x 17¼ inches 





Pump, 2001 

Steel: 23½ x 33 x 13 inches 







Frankfurt Chair, 2002 



46 x 25 x 14¼ inches 





Taking Aim, 2002 



38 x 20 x 14¼ inches 





F-16, 2003 

Steel: 30 x 32 x 15½ inches 


45 x 35 x 15½ inches 





Intersection of Two Circles, 2003 



28 x 19 x 10½ inches 





Great Book, 2004 








Tap Dancer, 2004 



59 x 19 x 18½ inches 





Bald Eagle, 2005 



39 x 37 x 12¼ inches 


On center 



Poodle, 2005 





2 inches left of center 


Distance from floor: 8 feet 6 inches 

Mosquito I, 2007 







Distance from floor: 9 feet 3 inches 

* All artwork measurements are H x W x D (irreg.) 

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IMAGE LEFT: 

The artist, pictured at La Triennale di Milano Museum of 

Art and Design, before Lucky Strike, 2004. The work was 

part of a one person exhibition, Tribe Art Tour, shown 

2005-6 at museums in Milan, Bologna, Torino and Rome. 

Acknowledgements 

An exhibition is really a collaborative effort and many are responsible 

for mine. 

Heartfelt thanks are due to Ivan and Ethan Karp of the 

OK Harris Gallery who believed in my vision and have shown my work 

for years. Thanks to Dr. Louis A. Zona for his kind invitation to present 

this exhibition, and to all the helpful staff of The Butler Institute of 

American Art for making this project such a pleasure. My gratitude to 

Marijo Dougherty for her devoted curatorial and coordination efforts, 

to Gary Gold for his terrific photography, to Zheng Hu for a fine catalog 

design, to Lilly Wei for her thoughtful essay on my work. Special 

thanks are also due to the University of Chicago Press for permission to 

reproduce text from the book Art From Start To Finish, and to Rensselaer 

Polytechnic Institute, the university where I teach, for its long-term support 

of my creative work. 

Finally, and most importantly, a great big thank you to my wife, 

Lisa, without whose encouragement, understanding and forbearance 

Object/Shadow would not exist, and to my sons, Moses and Eli, who 

gave up so much quality time with me when they were younger so that 

I could pursue my dream. 

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LARRY KAGAN 


September 20 – December 27, 2009 

The Butler Institute of American Art 

The Beecher Center 

524 Wick Avenue 

Youngstown, Ohio 44502 

Phone 330.743.1107 Fax 330.743.9567 

Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 11 am to 4 pm, Sunday noon to 4 pm. 

Closed Monday and major holidays. 

© The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio. All rights reserved. 

ISBN 1-882790-56-1 

Curated by Marijo Dougherty 

Essay by Lilly Wei 

Designed by Zheng Hu 

Edited by Erika Groff 

Photography by Gary Gold Studio 

This catalog is set in Adobe Dante on Platinum 100 lb. text and 

1500 copies were printed by New York Press & Graphics, Albany, New York 

COVER IMAGE: Poodle (detail), 2005

OBJECT/SHADOW - Larry Kagan Sculpture

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