Aug 24, 20191 min read

Maren Hassinger

Artist 189

Maren Hassinger

Sculptures enticing dance

Humanity in the Ordinary

Maren Hassinger (born 1947) is an African-American artist and educator. She is known for her sculpture, video, performance art, and public art in which she often uses natural or industrial materials.

In her work, Hassinger investigates the relationship between the natural and industrial worlds.

Her commonly used materials include wire, rope, garbage, leaves, cardboard boxes and old newspapers, often arranged to encourage movement, as if the sculptures themselves are engaged in a dance.

Hassinger’s work explores personal, political and environmental questions in an abstract language that allows viewers to come to their own conclusions.

“All the pieces with boxes are about our gross need to consume, and where it leads us,” she once told BOMB. “Where is the bleeding heart in all of this? I don’t think my work has so much to do with ecology, but focuses on elements, or even problems we all share, and in which we all have a stake.”

Hassinger's work has been described as "ecological," but Hassinger herself does not see her work as such. Rather, she aims to produce humanistic statements about society and its commonalities.

Additionally, Hassinger has addressed issues of equality with works like "Love," a display made of hundreds of pink plastic bags, each containing a love note. Such pieces exemplify how she is able to evoke beauty and themes about society using everyday, common materia