{"data":{"id":"364","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":364,"topgoose_id":2410,"tms_id":364,"display_name":"Mark di Suvero","sort_name":"di Suvero Mark","display_date":"1933–","begin_date":"1933","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eBorn in Shanghai to Italian expatriates,\nMark di Suvero was raised in San Francisco.\nHe first became interested in sculpture\nwhile studying philosophy in college, and\nstarted making small constructions of\nplaster and wax after moving to New York in\n1957. The art world was still dominated by\nAbstract Expressionism, and di Suvero was\ninfluenced by painters such as Franz\nKline and Clyfford Still, in whose work, as he\nexplained it, “space had some kind of a\nsymbolic value of freedom.” He began to\ntranspose their slashing diagonals and\nkinetic gestures into large sculptures\nmade of wood and scrap metal scavenged\nfrom demolition sites. \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/820\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eHankchampion\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e,\na key work from this period, strikes an\nuneasy balance between the weightiness\nof its weathered timbers and their\nprecarious, asymmetric configuration,\nwhich animates the surrounding space.\nAlthough severely injured at the time in an\nelevator accident that would leave him\nparalyzed for several years, he was able\nto finish the sculpture with the assistance\nof his younger brother, Hank. The title\nincludes Hank’s name as well as that of\nChampion, the company that provided the\nchain that girds the construction.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring the course of his rehabilitation,\ndi Suvero learned to operate an electric\narc welder and a crane, and since the\nmid-1960s he has worked primarily in steel.\nHis signature sculptures are composed\nof I-beams and steel plates that he torques,\ncuts, and twists into mammoth geometric\nconfigurations, often brightly painted\nand sometimes incorporating kinetic\nelements. Known for his activism and for\nhis advocacy of fellow artists, di Suvero\nestablished the Socrates Sculpture Park in\nQueens, New York, in 1986.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500013375","wikidata_id":"Q567421","created_at":"2017-08-30T17:21:56.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-30T07:02:48.785-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/364/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/364/exhibitions"}}}}