This exhibition of contemporary sculpture brings together a selection of works culled from Microsoft's art collection. Attempting to define movements or trends is never easy. The selections of works for this show are meant to underscore a core direction in the collection, a collection characterized by its independence and the unabashed creativity among the artists collected. The collection's premise has been one to look toward innovation and exploration in the visual arts and these sculptors epitomize that thinking and vision.

" In a world saturated with imagery of every color, size, shape and conceivable topic, these sculptors seek to play with the idea of catching the viewer off-guard.

Rather than interpreting this group as a movement let us simply say that the selection represents a cross section of approaches by artists of different backgrounds and education who for the most part live and work in this region. Some  artists have been invited to participate in this exhibition to illustrate that what we see in this region of the country is in fact happening nationwide.

What is immediately apparent from just a cursory glance at the work here is the enormous range and diversity of approaches to sculpture. For the most part, these are all object makers. These are artists interested in the craft and invention of forms, sometimes eccentric in nature, other times extremely structural in format. Generally speaking, there is among this group a delight in the material aspects of things. The fabrication of works may be hand made or machine made, but the ultimate end is to achieve something astonishing, if not totally unique and eye catching.

In a world saturated with imagery of every color, size, shape and conceivable topic, these sculptors seek to play with the idea of catching the viewer off-guard. The artists here hope to cause an interruption among the commonality of ordinary objects in the world. Their shared strategies are to adapt the subtleties of the physical appearance of their respective works. They do this by altering scale or making use of unexpected materials or simply creating a singularly unique or puzzling form. While these works are visually uncanny, distinctive even remarkable they are neither revolutionary nor do they suggest rebelliousness on the part of their authors. As highly inventive and evolved three-dimensionally visual ideas they exist in sync with the everyday but are also out of sync with it. This nonconformity is caused by a slight built in abnormality or irregularity in the works design, an exaggeration lets says of an inventive color or texture or just exaggeration. Yet, their ultimate success lies in their ability to fit within the everyday and appear usual while at the same time being quite unusual, volleying back and forth between use and playfulness. The list of materials is in and of itself noteworthy from carved wood, and blown glass to cement, plaster, dyed felt, stoneware, cast iron, steel, bronze, bamboo and lacquered aluminum. The trademark for these artists is their mastery of their materials and the contingent sense of scale, order and composition.

Because there is no single or simple solution to sculpture making today, there is no single direction or school or movement. Commenting on a similar break in the isms of some thirty years ago, art critic Lucy Lippard in her insightful essay "Eccentric Abstraction ", published in 1966 discovered a trend among a young generation of sculptors living and working on both East and West coasts, who eschewed any singular school or style in favor of a more casual and inclusive adaptation of eccentric forms. At that time she was addressing the work of such artists as Eva Hesse, Keith Sonnier and Bruce Nauman. In their works she saw a shared effort towards experimentation and innovation and an effort to expand the definition of sculpture and its activities. Looking at this exhibition, many of her observations are still relevant today. She acknowledged an east-west connection with regards to contemporary American art, an axis that continues today through a more expanded and developed network of museums, galleries, university art departments and collections than that which existed in the mid 1960s. Lippard also touched upon the new character of sculpture of her day, which was neither ceremonial nor monumental. And though it was considered largely " experimental " it did have specific historic precedents. She saw in the exaggerated and organic forms of Hesse, a kinship to the Surrealism of Salvador Dali's "illusionistically melted objects "and Meret Oppenheim's fur lined tea cup of 1936. In the art of Bruce Nauman and Keith Sonnier and their use of soft materials, she identified a direct link to the contemporary soft sculptures of Pop artist Claes Oldenburg. Finally she saw in this new direction, a very personal and individualistic aesthetic at work; the central activity was both the liberation and explication of the self through a three-dimensional art form.

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