The farewell tour

Mark Ostow

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Manuel Neri
Sculpture for Love and Other
Differences: Ruth (left), 1990
Annunciation No. 1 (right), 1984
Other figures, 1963–2007
Plaster, pigments, steel armature with styrofoam and burlap

I did a show of Manuel Neri’s work when I moved to San Francisco. I bought the last working casket factory south of Market Street in 1974. And about a year later, we opened a gallery on the ground floor at a place called 80 Langton Street. I invited Manuel to come, and I said, “Why don’t you just make a figure a day for a week? Or do it even longer, and then, on the ninth or tenth day, we’re going to have an opening.” And he did eight full figures. 

You can see a little bit of burlap here [pointing to one plaster figure]. Or, over here, you see chicken wire [pointing to another]. This work starts with a stick and burlap, which form a basic armature.

I used to see Manuel sometimes in the studio—if he didn’t like the pose, he could just snap an arm off and rebuild it. Or do something to firm it up. Make the space a little stronger in the legs, by inserting enough to stabilize the piece a little more. This happens fast. There’s a real physical aspect to how quickly you have to work in plaster.