Drawing on Minimalist and Land art of the 1960s and ’70s, Meg Webster has brought natural materials such as mud, sand, and straw indoors since the mid-1980s, shaping them into elementary sculptures of amplified concentration. Her sculptural body of work spans simple geometric structures, gardens, and hydraulic and grow-light installations that may be sited within or outside the boundaries of the gallery. Formed from unbound substances, her precise cones, cylinders, prisms, spirals, discs, and rectangles defy material expectations and highlight the nurturing and fragile qualities of the natural world.

This long-term presentation of Webster’s work will feature Dia’s recent major acquisitions of her signature concave and convex volumes of soil, complemented by sculptures constructed in beeswax, moss, salt, and sticks. An indoor hydraulic installation made from wetland grasses and recycled water will culminate the presentation. On view in Dia Beacon’s West galleries, which are bordered by a garden designed by Robert Irwin, the exhibition will result in an ecosystem derived from the colors, scents, and sounds of Webster’s materials in dialogue with the outside environment. Alongside works by her peers Donald Judd, Michael Heizer, and Richard Serra, among others, Webster’s sculptures will bring a unique ecological perspective to the formal concerns that animate the art in Dia’s collection.

Meg Webster is curated by Matilde Guidelli-Guidi, associate curator at Dia.

All exhibitions at Dia are made possible by the Economou Exhibition Fund.

Meg Webster was born in San Francisco in 1944. She lives and works in New York City.

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