Longtime DART contributor Ken Carbone—who, it must be said is also a friend and colleague going back to my participation in writing projects for his agency—has a way of looking at art. As cofounder, with Leslie Smolan, of the Carbone Smolan Agency, in 1977, his branding projects always stood on the foundations of the plastic arts as they have existed since the Sumerians marked their products with cuneiform cylinder seals. 

Ken has taught at the School of Visual Arts and lectured at Yale University, Carnegie Mellon, the Rhode Island School of Design, RIT, and the University of the Arts. He has presented his work at the Cooper Hewitt, The Denver Art Museum, and the High Museum in Atlanta. And his many honors include an AIGA Lifetime Achievement Award. Ken, who moved in 2020 from his Manhattan agency to a beautiful art studio in Piermont, New York, is also a regular contributor to  PRINT magazine. This feature, posted under FINE ART and reprinted with permission, will give you a taste for his incisive and entertaining views on art. [You can subscribe to PRINT here.]

I walked into a Manhattan gallery twenty years ago to see a group exhibition of contemporary artists. Moving through the galleries I noticed a peculiar yellow blotch on the floor in a distant room. When I arrived to take a closer look, I was giddy to find a topographic landscape made entirely of standard No.2 pencils titled Colony[above]. Each pencil stood upright, cut to various heights to shape a rugged terrain of hills and valleys. It was smart, inventive, and deftly executed. More than experiencing an astonishing work of art that day, I discovered Tara Donovan. The video below offers a look at some of her best-known work.

I’ve had a “crush” on Donovan’s work ever since and try to see her installations whenever possible. Her inquisitive eye sees the invisible potential in manufactured materials, which she conjures into complex and visually stunning forms. Be it Styrofoam cups, straight pins, drinking straws, shattered glass, rubber bands, mylar, buttons, toothpicks, tarpaper, or Slinky toys, Donovan delivers excitement from afar and upon close inspection. Her sculptures, drawings, and prints are not merely about the base materials, but the accumulation, repetition, and transformation processes that offer new meanings and experiences. Her works are simultaneously delicate and monumental, emphasizing her creative vision’s intricacy and immensity.

Tara Donovan’s latest exhibition, Stratagems at Pace Gallery, reaffirms her place as a maestro in transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. When I entered the pristine white space softly lit by daylight, I was immediately struck by the curious grouping of totem-like objects that felt both organic and architectural. They were greenish and plant-like but also rigidly structural each sitting atop a neutral concrete base. Looking closely, I discovered that Donovan chose ordinary CDs (entirely scavenged and upcycled) as her medium, crafting them into intricate, otherworldly forms that defy conventional perception….

In Stratagems, Donovan continues her customary material exploration with mathematical precision. The CD sculptures evoke natural forms—crystalline structures and cellular formations — blurring the lines between the synthetic and the organic. The meticulous assembly of each piece reflects her deep understanding of material, form, and how the rhythmic quality of the disks plays an essential part in a harmonious whole….

What I like most about Stratagems is how Donovan opens a personal dialogue with each viewer. One might ask, what do these glimmering “towers” represent? Are they strange robotic plants from a distant world? Are they architectural models for 22nd-century skyscrapers? Or are they evidence of existing lifeforms seen under an electron microscope? I find them mesmerizing in the questions they provoke and how they reveal the wonder in the commonplace. I am also in awe of Donovan’s selection of the object from which she begins her artistic investigation. What did she see in the CD that inspired her? Aside from the Slinky (a timeless mechanical marvel), her commercial materials are anonymous and mostly brandless, a facet that contributes to the objects’ strength, purity, and enigmatic beauty.

Tara Donovan’s career history is ripe with innovation and exploration. Born in Queens, NY, in 1969, she emerged as an important figure in contemporary art with her unique “palette” of everyday materials and ability to reveal their hidden beauty. She first gained widespread recognition with her inclusion in the 2000 Whitney Biennial, where her Untitled monoprint caught the attention of critics and audiences alike. Donovan’s work continues to be showcased by preeminent institutions. You can also find her work in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Strategems continues through August 16 at Pace Gllery, 540 West 25^th Street, New York, NY Info