David Hare

David Hare worked in several mediums, including photography, painting, and printmaking, but he is best known for his absurdist sculptures. Although the art critic Clement Greenberg criticized Hare for making painterly sculptures, the artist was lauded by Jean-Paul Sartre, who noted the emotional impact of his work. Hare believed that the sensations of the viewer are vitally important to works of art. He once wrote, “Art…takes form at some point in the air between the work and the observer.” Young Axx (1991) is a slightly threatening sculpture of a body made from an ax head attached to welded legs, suggesting the tool’s potential for creative destruction.