Martin Puryear

Puryear’s skill as a sculptor is grounded in experiential training. After attending Catholic University in his native city of Washington, DC, he spent much of the 1960s in Sierra Leone and Scandinavia, where he learned various woodworking techniques from local artisans. Wood remained Puryear’s primary material after he returned to the United States. Despite the dominant influence of Minimalism, the artist quickly realized his need to remain engaged with his materials and with the physical process of making objects. By 1984, when Puryear made Greed’s Trophy, he had established a reputation as a leading sculptor of the post-Minimalist generation.

Around this time, Puryear began to introduce wire, wire mesh, and tar into his work. Greed’s Trophy is his first wall sculpture made of wire—an element that possesses the ability to convey volume while remaining open and porous; Puryear later described his use of wire mesh as “mediating between a feeling of massiveness and fragility to reach a point of extreme vulnerability.” The quiet expressiveness and suggestive titles of Puryear’s sculptures open them up to metaphorical interpretations: Greed’s Trophy resembles a cage or an animal trap, perhaps hinting that greed can be an emotional and psychological snare.