George Segal: Body Language

Approximately sixty years ago, the young artist George Segal embraced a new working process that catapulted him to becoming one of the most recognized twentieth-century sculptors. During the summer of 1961, Segal was introduced to medical gauze bandages which he wrapped around his body and then used as primary material to cast plaster sculptures. The following year, in 1962, he was included in the legendary exhibition The New Realists along with Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, and Jim Dine. In response to this group exhibition, the American media began to refer to the artists as a new movement: Pop Art.

This exhibition revisits George Segal’s career beyond the labels and focus on his remarkable versatility in representing body language across different media, including not only his trademark plaster sculptures but also various print techniques. His engagement with the human body reveals a sustained and cohesive exploration of human body language, always playing with the border of interior and exterior signification. Across the spectrum of sculptures and prints, body parts often overlap with and mirror one another, forming a sequence that resembles the choreography of dance.

George Segal: Body Language is the first George Segal exhibition at Meijer Gardens since 2004 and the first time that a large number of prints gifted by The George & Helen Segal Foundation are on display. While this is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the artist’s singular vision in representing body language, it can also serve as an inspiration to revisit the many innovative figurative sculptures that are part of the Sculpture Park, including Segal’s own Girl Standing in Nature, as well as works by Jim Dine, Kiki Smith, Antony Gormley, Jaume Plensa, and others.