New works on display at Chelsea Gallery transform steel wires into graceful shapes 

Maren Hassinger, installation view, We Are All Vessels, Susan Inglett Gallery, 2021. Photo: Adam Reich (courtesy of Susan Inglett Gallery, New York City).

A common theme that runs through most of Maren Hassinger's works is the relationship between the natural world and the world built by humans.

A series of new works on display in an exhibition titled "We are All Ships" at the Susan Ingrid Gallery in New York explored the theme of shared environments.

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The exhibition includes five new installations built with fabric and steel wire rope. Three of the works are hung on the walls of the gallery, gradually decreasing in height. The steel frame they shared was made by the sculptor Michael Benevenia, who studied at the Reinhardt School of Sculpture in Baltimore, where Hassinger served as the director, and was covered with transparent polyester fabrics of different colors. 

What: Maren Hassinger: We are all ships

Time: Until June 12. The gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Location: Susan Inglett Galler y, 522 West 24th Street, NYC

Maren Hassinger, untitled container (beige), 202. Stretch polyester fabric on steel frame. Armature manufactured by Michael Benevenia. 60 x 24 inches in diameter, (MH0236). (Courtesy: Susan Inglett Gallery, New York).

These fragments were twisted into containers of different shapes, named according to the colors of their corresponding fabrics-"red", "beige" and "brown". "Beige" takes the form of a vase with handles on both sides of the opening; its bottom is reminiscent of the concept of a mermaid waving its tail in the water. On the other hand, the "red" sculpture is more like an inverted umbrella, while the "brown" is like a hole-like opening.

Two other installations by Hassinger are located on the floor of the gallery. They are also made of Benevenia's armature frame and Hassinger's wire rope. One of the works "Large Body" uses a huge convex tank shape, the widest part contains most of the work, and then bends inwards, and then bends outwards again to emphasize the opening. Another work "Small Body" is farther away from the ground than the big body, and then gradually widens. When all the wire ropes move towards the top together, it does not provide an opening, but narrows at the top, exposing all its wild, untamed ends. The exhibition also includes two large-scale sketches named "Amphora I" and "Amphora II", based on which the sculptures in her exhibition are based.

Maren Hassinger, "Untitled Container (Red)", 2021. Stretch polyester fabric on steel frame. Armature manufactured by Michael Benevenia. 69 x 61 inches in diameter, (MH0234). (Courtesy: Susan Inglett Gallery, New York).

What Hassinger is trying to accomplish is to help viewers see the relationship between the natural world and the man-made world. She incorporates her dance background into her sculptures, allowing them to feel how we as human beings move and adapt to our environment, as evidenced by the flowing fabrics on her hanging works.

She often uses steel wire to make ropes and other items, usually made of hemp and other natural fibers, to convey the industrial world's influence on nature and the connection between the two. 

Maren Hassinger, "Untitled Vessel (Large Hull, Details)", 2021. Stainless steel wire rope on the steel frame. Armature manufactured by Michael Benevenia. 67x 54 1/2 inches. Diameter (MH0237). (Courtesy: Susan Inglett Gallery, New York).

Hasinger's work is often called "ecological", but she insists that her work is more than that. She once said: "I don't think my work has much to do with ecology, but to focus on the elements we have in common, and even the problems-society and the environment-where we all have a stake in it."

This African-American Hassinger now lives in New York City, was born and raised in Los Angeles, and then studied at Bennington College in Vermont, where she was initially a dance student, but later turned to sculpture and worked in Received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1969. 

 After a year in New York, Hassinger eventually moved back to Los Angeles and took classes at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received a master's degree in fiber art from the university in 1973.

Hasinger's work is displayed in numerous exhibitions in museums and galleries and various parks and spaces across the country. From 1997 to 2017, she served as the Dean of the Reinhart Graduate School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. 

Alison Martin is a lifelong resident of New York City and often visits the latest exhibitions in many museums, galleries and other art-related venues in New York City.