The Story Behind Martin Puryear’s “Alien Huddle,” a Highlight of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Scattered throughout an exhibition on the lower level of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Martin Puryear’s critically lauded sculptures draw new connections when viewed together, in Martin Puryear: Nexus, an exhibition celebrating the artist’s 60-year career. The ticketed exhibition opens on April 12 and continues through Aug. 9.

The Washington Post calls Puryear “one of the country’s most celebrated sculptors,” and The New Yorker called him “America’s greatest living sculptor.” He earned a MacArthur Fellowship in 1989, and a National Medal of Arts in 2012.

Clevelanders likely recognize one of the accomplished artist’s central pieces, titled “Alien Huddle,” in the exhibition. The globular wooden sphere sculpture moved a couple of floors away from the contemporary art gallery where it has typically been on view since CMA acquired it in the early 2000s.

At an April 9 preview event for the show, the artist himself stood next to the wooden sphere to answer questions about the collection, which consists of 50 pieces of abstract shapes, colors and forms, each reflecting inspirations in the natural world and cultural identity.

In every abstract shape and detail, the meaning is ultimately up to the viewer to determine. But, when asked by Cleveland Magazine to share more detail around how the museum’s “Alien Huddle” came to be, Puryear divulged the story behind the piece.

“It’s not about an alien from outer space,” Puryear said. “It’s about embracing a new entity in your life.”

Created after his daughter was born, the sculpture was inspired by the process of labor and birth – of the transformation which occurs when a relationship goes from two people, to three.

That story is tangible, when taking a slow walk around the sculpture. From one angle, you can see only one wooden globe. As you slowly step around the piece, a second globe appears. And, from just the right angle, as you continue to interact, a third, tiny globe appears, nestled between them, in one family huddle. A sculptural hug.

Puryear’s story brings new layers to the work, which was crafted with a cold-molding technique that is often used in boat building. Like many of his works, “Alien Huddle” is made of wood: a medium which Puryear is drawn to for its historic qualities.

“There’s evidence of having been a living thing,” he explained. “Certain characteristics we can relate to, being organic being ourselves.”

Elsewhere, pieces in the Nexus exhibition invite varied interpretations. “Big Phrygian” stands in the center of the gallery, a bulky wooden sculpture in the shape of a large red liberty cap, a symbol of liberation from slavery. “Self,” a stained wooden boulder shape, looks heavier than it is, rising out of the ground and glinting in gallery lights. “Lever #1,” a massive vessel, stretches a coffin-like base diagonally across the room and then sharply upward into a vertical arm.

Each piece is exacting, executed with precision and entrenched in stories and statements refined over decades in Puryear’s busy career that’s taken his work to galleries around the globe and earned him extensive recognition.

“We certainly regard him as one of the most important and influential contemporary artists of our time,” said Todd Mesek, CMA’s chief marketing officer, at the media preview event.

“He is one of the most celebrated and influential artists of our time,” said Emily Liebert, a curator of contemporary art at CMA. “This is a special landmark exhibition that I really want all of Cleveland to see.”

Liebert co-curated the exhibition with Reto Thüring, who is the head of culture at the Foundation for Art, Culture and History in Switzerland and a former CMA curator. Working with Puryear to arrange his works, both Liebert and Thüring emphasized topics and themes that have reappeared and surged forward in new ways throughout the artist’s career. 

“What you’ll see as you walk through the show is not only a curator's perspective,” Liebert said, “but the perspective of an artist looking back at himself from the present moment to the earliest days of his career.”

At Thursday’s preview event, Puryear reflected on the abstract meanings of his lifetime of work around him.

“I don’t give a message in words,” Puryear said, then gestured to the gallery. “The message is here.”

"Martin Puryear: Nexus" previously ran at Museum of Fine Arts Boston. After its Cleveland dates, it will travel to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Find more details about the show at CMA’s website.

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