Over the course of his seventy-year career, Richard Hunt developed a sculptural language that defied categorization. Referring to his work as “organic constructions,” the artist fused disparate elements together to create entirely new forms in metal. Hunt was inspired by the direct metal techniques that artists like Julio González and David Smith developed throughout the twentieth century. Welding allowed Hunt to intuitively construct his sculptures. “To me the introduction of direct metal techniques gives the means to treat sculpture in increasingly expressive terms,” said the artist. “We can graft onto this linear-spatial development elements of any former sculptural tradition, and are now able to position sculptural units freely in space, make dramatic changes in scale, mass, movement, weight, and employ heterogeneous materials in a single work.” Hunt moved fluidly between different sculptures as he worked, likening his process to the act of gardening as he manipulated each form by hand. Scraps from one work would often become seeds for the next, or various pieces would be welded together to form distinct compositions.

Expansive Construction relates to Hunt’s Hybrid series, which the artist began in the mid-1960s following his experience working in a zoological laboratory at the University of Chicago. For Hunt, these constructions were a “synthesis of organic and industrial subject matter,” which drew from a range of botanical, animal, and other natural sources, as well the history of sculpture. Like many of Hunt’s works, Expansive Construction summons ideas of aspiration, ascension, and transformation. A thick, square base graduates into a refined four-sided column before transforming into a cacophony of shapes that recall wings and other appendages, thrusting upward and outward in uncontainable growth. The artist created this work during the politically and aesthetically charged period of the 1970s; the Black Power movement demanded that Black artists create figurative messages of Black empowerment, while Minimalism asserted reductive forms. Hunt rejected these influences, instead charting a singular path all his own.