The National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is no stranger to wildlife on its property. Located at the foot of the Grand Teton National Park, and across the road from the National Elk Refuge, the museum will routinely get critters, big and small, all year round. On November 9, the museum was given a new permanent resident: Cub, Sittingby the sculpture artist Hacer, who creates large metal pieces made to look like origami creations.
Hacer, Cub, Sitting, 2023, powder-coated steel, 63 x 41 x 58”. Gift of the 2023 Collectors Circle, National Museum of Wildlife Art.
The piece was purchased by the museum’s Collectors Circle, a group of museum members whose mission is to support acquisitions for the permanent collection. Part of their membership dues fund art acquisitions, and members vote on new acquisitions to benefit and diversify the permanent collection.
“Collectors Circle is always excited to acquire notable artworks, and this year, we were privileged to purchase Hacer’s Cub, Sitting. Many members are particularly enthusiastic about adding contemporary pieces to the collection—Cub, Sitting certainly fits that bill,” says Collectors Circle member and museum trustee Sally Painter. “Collectors Circle was formed in 1998 and has been instrumental in adding many significant works to the museum’s permanent collection, including Study of Two Ravens by James Browning Wyeth, Endangered Species Portfolio by Andy Warhol and Tiger by Ai Weiwei.”
The museum notes that Hacer was first introduced to origami through the book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr. In discussing his artistic process, Hacer says, “As I learn to shape my work, afraid, I move forward through the familiar unknown and learn to re-shape myself, lessening the past’s grip. Like the dynamic, formative process hidden by my seemingly simple designs, my work’s simple existence aims to elicit a dynamic response about the viewer’s relationship to their formative process: childhood. Through this interaction, we [like I with Alexander Calder] can all begin anew.” —
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Calling all Western Art museums! Have a recently acquired painting or sculpture? Email the details to mclawson@westernartcollector.com.
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