Located on the second floor of the David Zwirner Gallery is a carefully curated collection of Ruth Asawa’s artworks. Although the collection provides a glimpse of Asawa’s two-dimensional artwork, the main attractions are the sculptures that suspend from the high ceilings. It is evident that her main art medium is industrial wire, which is an unconventional art form, making her more admirable as an artist. Looking closely at the art, viewers can understand how dense and strong the wires are, thus recognizing the immense amount of effort that Asawa put into her sculptures.
One interesting aspect of Asawa’s artworks is that there are many layers to her sculptures. There are figures encompassed within larger figures, which help give the artworks a motion aspect to it. As viewers move and change their perspective, the figures of the artwork shifts into a different shape. Another very interesting aspect of having multiple layers of wire within a sculpture is that some areas are darker than others. This allows the artwork to be more visually appealing than just a two-toned artwork and gives the artwork more dimension through shadows and highlights. The artworks are placed in an exhibition room with bright, white walls, high ceilings, and massive, wide, windows, which allows natural sunlight to shine through the holes of the artwork. This helps emphasize shade and light in the sculptures.
A prominent characteristic of Asawa’s sculptures is that the wires are warped into intricate, repeating patterns, as opposed to random shapes. There is consistency within her pattern in a sculpture. Her patterns are usually geometric and minuscule. Within a sculpture, the unchanging pattern allows the
sculpture to appear to be a very neat, patterned drawing or ink wash artwork from the when viewed from under the artwork. This is shown in the picture to the right of this photo.
Asawa’s main focus is form; the space surrounding the pieces are just as important as the space they occupy. The use of wire results in a repeated shape throughout the entire work, also forcing viewers to focus on the space inside of each coil along with the coil itself. Many of the works take on the shape of the human form, but distort it. The artist chooses to either make the torso incredibly narrow or theshoulders much wider than the waist— however, viewers are still able to recognize that the works resemble a human form. Asawa’s use of repetition stems beyond just the medium itself— some of her other works feature repeated shapes, layered on top of one another. These layered shapes are then hung from the ceiling, which results in the works looking as if they are moving. However, Asawa captures just one position of movement, but viewers are meant to imagine the rest of the movement that the pieces undergo (if they were actually animated). By breaking it down into so many smaller levels, through her use of copper wire, Asawa explores the relationship 
between form and movement, revealing that movement can be evoked through illusion.
Asawa’s use of industrial wire helps redefine art and its’ conventional art forms. If you’re in the Chelsea area, Ruth Asawa’s gallery is definitely worth checking out. Her artwork is simply inspiring and her take on art is innovative and will change your perception of art.
