The smooth, dripping surfaces of the bronze elements in North South East West variably recall ocean waves lapping at the shore, slow-moving lava, or prehistoric creatures. Lynda Benglis created the sculpture by pouring polyurethane foam over a large Ming ceramic pot that she had covered with a wire support, then used the resulting form to cast the four bronze components. All were identical in shape until 2015, when Benglis reworked three of the four, affixing additional cast bronze pieces to create a “collaged sculpture.” (The East element retains the shape of the original cast.) Her process invites some unpredictability, but as Benglis has stated, “While there’s some accident, I have control.”

Benglis first gained notice in the late 1960s with her gestural works made of poured latex and foam. Her practice did not fit neatly within the sharp aesthetics of Minimalism or the overt politics of the feminist art of the time. Across her career, Benglis has employed a wide range of materials—from plastics and cast glass to paper and gold leaf—to render dynamic impressions of mass and surface that blur the distinction between hard and soft, flaccid and firm.