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63 Like many artists of his generation who witnessed the destructiveness of modern warfare and the deterioration of life in American cities, Martin Puryear turned for inspiration to the craft-oriented life of prehistoric societies, whose relationship with nature was fundamental and ritualistic. While retaining the legacy of Minimalism in his use of simple, reductive forms, Puryear rejected the machine aesthetic associated with the work of Donald Judd. Inspired by a lengthy residence in West Africa, his sculptures are hand-constructed from organic materials, usually wood. Puryear treats substances as if they had a life of their own; their essence is preserved, not obliterated, in order to maintain a harmony between the material and the action of its creation. Self is an outstanding example of Puryear's concern for the underlying forces that govern the formal geometries of abstract sculpture.

. Martin Puryear Martin Puryear Martin Puryear returns repeatedly to forms and motifs he has used before-modifying them through changes in scale, proportion, or materials-in a continuous effort to extract new meanings. Though he has worked with stone, cast metal, and glass, his long-standing favorite material is wood. His love of wood stems from his exposure to African carving and carpentry traditions while a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone in the mid-1960s. He often combines different woods in a single sculpture, as in number 12 from the series Boy's Toys (1985), enjoying the interplay of textures and colors and the responsiveness of the woods to various carving and shaping techniques.

. Martin Puryear Martin Puryear Martin Puryear returns repeatedly to forms and motifs he has used before-modifying them through changes in scale, proportion, or materials-in a continuous effort to extract new meanings. Though he has worked with stone, cast metal, and glass, his long-standing favorite material is wood. His love of wood stems from his exposure to African carving and carpentry traditions while a Peace Corps volunteer in Sierra Leone in the mid-1960s. He often combines different woods in a single sculpture, as in number 12 from the series Boy's Toys (1985), enjoying the interplay of textures and colors and the responsiveness of the woods to various carving and shaping techniques.

His early visions were to become a wildlife illustrator, so the combination of biology and art were perhaps not so strange. Puryear spent two years in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa where he taught art, biology, French and English. This is also where he had an opportunity to not only observe traditional craftsmen, but also learn how to craft wood using hand tools. Wanting to continue his training in woodcarving, Mr. Puryear moved to Sweden where he attended the Swedish Royal Academy of Art.

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