When the sculptor Richard Hunt was still a student at the School of the Art Institute, he sold a piece to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. That was back in 1957; Hunt was 22. When he was 35, in 1971, MOMA mounted the first retrospective of his work. Hunt is nearing 80 now, but he continues to work in his Lincoln Park studio, welding industrial metal into art. Several pieces from his personal collection, covering the full range of his nearly 60-year-long career, from his student days through work currently in progress, is on display at the Chicago Cultural Center through March. The Museum of Contemporary Art salutes Hunt with a retrospective, opening this week, featuring pieces (mostly) drawn from its own collection.
“The material doesn’t look like it should be able to do the things it does,” she says. “There’s a sense of vivacity—of aliveness and energy. There’s metal all around us, in buildings and in our cars, but it’s a magical moment to watch metal transform from something mundane and utilitarian into something poetic.”
“Richard Hunt” Opens Thu 12/18 Through 5/17/15 Museum of Contemporary Art 220 E. Chicago 312-280-2660mcachicago.org
