Ursula von Rydingsvard's Cedar Sculptures at Galerie Lelong Evoke Primitive Forms

Ursula von Rydingsvard presented an exhibition at Galerie Lelong in New York from May 9 to June 21, 2003, featuring large-scale cedar sculptures. The show included works like Pod Pacha, a mechanized piece with a heaving lid and udder-like legs, and River Bowl, a jar-form structure. These pieces were constructed from sliced cedar slabs in an irregular checkerboard pattern, emphasizing chunkiness and handmade qualities. A New York Times review highlighted the artist's departure from Minimalism, noting her focus on associative, nature-like surfaces. The sculptures were compared to Constantin Brancusi's Endless Column and linked to artists such as William Tucker and David Nash, whose work Husk appeared in a prior show at the same gallery. Von Rydingsvard's approach was described as a distinctive, individualist language that engages with grid-based repetition while evoking romanticism against conceptual trends. The exhibition's pieces invited imaginative projection, with River Bowl offering ambiguous surfaces that encouraged drawing for deeper meaning.