Joel Shapiro's Bronze Sculptures Energize Metropolitan Museum Rooftop

Five untitled bronze sculptures by Joel Shapiro are currently installed on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's rooftop. Created between 1989 and 2001, these works transform rectangular bronze blocks into dynamic, anthropomorphic forms that suggest running, leaping, or tumbling figures. Shapiro, born in 1941 and active since the late 1960s New York avant-garde, employs a geometric vocabulary while avoiding the aloofness and rejection of metaphor typical of Minimalism. His sculptures engage viewers by evoking human gestures and energy, with textures from the casting process creating striations that play with light and shadow. One 12-foot-tall orange piece from 2000-1 displays red-violet shadows and glowing orange surfaces, its welded components conveying precarious movement. Two earlier works from 1989-90 and 1991 are described as less successful, with formal elements that feel choked or uninteresting. Shapiro's approach references historical movements like Suprematism and Cubism, while distinguishing itself from artists like David Smith and Fernand Léger. Critics like Barbara Rose and Max Kozloff have contextualized his work within Post-Minimalist debates about figuration and anonymity. The sculptures' explosive quality and seeming instability create an anxious anticipation of collapse, activating the surrounding space.