Radical Softness is a mid-career retrospective of renowned artist Janet Echelman, bringing together early drawings, paintings, mixed media works, maquettes, and full-size net sculptures spanning four decades of Echelman’s career.
The exhibition offers a rare and intimate look at her artistic evolution -- tracing her journey from early explorations in drawing, painting, and textile methods to the monumental, netted sculptures that have redefined public spaces around the world. The exhibition anchors a multi-site initiative featuring satellite installations at American University and the Buchanan Gallery at George Mason University.
Her works serve as vessels for storytelling and empathy, fostering spaces for contemplation that, as Echelman describes, “shift from being an object you look at to something you can get lost in.”
About Janet Echelman
Janet Echelman sculpts at the scale of buildings and city blocks. Echelman’s work defies categorization, as it intersects disciplinary boundaries, from Sculpture, Architecture, and Urban Design to Material Science, Structural & Aeronautical Engineering, Computer Science, and performance. Renowned for her soaring installations that merge ancient craft with cutting-edge technology, she creates massive, undulating forms that invite viewers to slow down, connect with their surroundings, and engage with one another. Using centuries-old fishing-net knotting techniques, Echelman transforms humble materials into ethereal sculptures that visualize natural phenomena and create a palpable experience of the interconnectedness of humanity and the environment. Her works serve as vessels for storytelling and empathy, fostering spaces for contemplation that, as Echelman describes, “shift from being an object you look at to something you can get lost in.”
Using unlikely materials from atomized water particles to engineered fiber fifteen times stronger than steel, Echelman combines ancient craft with computational design software to create artworks that have become focal points for urban life on five continents, from Singapore, Sydney, Shanghai, and Santiago, to Beijing, Boston, New York, and London. Permanent works in Porto (Portugal), Gwanggyo (South Korea), Vancouver, San Francisco, West Hollywood, Phoenix, Eugene, Greensboro, Philadelphia, Seattle, Columbus (OH), and St. Petersburg (FL) transform daily with colored light.
Radical Softness is a travelling exhibtion organized by Studio Echelman.
This exhibition is generously supported in part by Nedra & Peter Agnew, Leila Gordon, Joe Koszarek, A. Borisenko & K. Matthew, and Lake Thoreau Entertainment Association.
