Michael Warren (1950-) lives in Co Wexford, and works, predominantly, in Wood and metal. In addition to his formal art studies, he spent some time reading philosophy at Trinity College Dublin. Warren has often been described as a minimalist.
Minimalism was a movement in modern art that emerged in the 1960s as sculptors moved away from figurative work to make pieces that drew the viewers’ attention to qualities of the material itself – its form, colour or shape. Modernism is often closely linked with conceptualism, a movement arising around the same time which emphasized the importance of the idea in art.
The dark wood flows downwards like as leek mane of hair. A fissure runs from top to bottom, almost splitting the sculpture in half. Two readings of this work emerge; on one hand, the wood itself seems to have assumed the lightness, texture and quality of a woman’s hair, and, on the other, it is possible her hair is the thing that is not there. Is the central split is a parting or a strand of hair, her hair could be the negative space described by the wood around it.
Her Hair is a elegant, enigmatic work, suggesting a tribute to a mysterious woman.
