Judy Pfaff Loves Surprises
Sculptures and works on paper that are beautifully unpredictable
BY ANDRE VAN DER WENDE SEP 1, 2021
SOURCE: PROVINCETOWN INDEPENDENT
GAA Gallery Through October 31, 2021
Judy Pfaff is home after returning from Sweden two nights before. “I’m calling from Tivoli, N.Y., trying to get used to what time it is now,” she says brightly. If she’s tired, it’s not evident. Pfaff doesn’t have a lot of time between engagements. She lectures part-time at Bard College where she’s been a professor of art since 1994. Last week, she taught a sold-out workshop at Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill. Now, she and one of her assistants are busy preparing and packing crates for a show of sculptures and works on paper at Provincetown’s Gaa Gallery, opening Friday, Sept. 3.
At the vanguard of installation art since her first large-scale work in the mid 1970s, Pfaff’s work flew in the face of the cool minimalism of the times — an unbridled, full-throttle charge that engaged the senses and invigorated space. For Pfaff, more is more. Her work is characterized by an eyes-wide-open, constantly curious approach, finding new ways of seeing — fresh nooks and crannies relating to science, psychology, astronomy, or the body.
This untitled 25-by-22-by-30-inch sculpture by Pfaff is made from melted plastic, acrylic, paper lantern, faux flowers, and steel hardware. (Photo courtesy Gaa Gallery)
