Victoria Thorson’s Sculptures Lead a Multifaceted Exploration of Expression and Transformation

New York, N.Y. — Marc Straus Gallery unveils Past Tense/Future Perfect, a compelling exhibition dissecting identity, femininity, and creative freedom through divergent artistic lenses.

Featuring gallery stalwarts like Renée Stout, Rona Pondick, Jeanne Silverthorne, and Katrina Andry alongside dynamic newcomers including Dr. Victoria Thorson, the show transforms introspective narratives into visceral forms. Thorson’s basswood sculptures—ethereal yet grounded—anchor the collection, embodying the exhibit’s celebration of ambiguity and reinvention.

The Exhibition: Where Shadows Define Meaning

Curated to resist singular interpretations, Past Tense/Future Perfect thrives in “twilight spaces,” where emotion materializes as form. Works oscillate between cultural commentary and whimsy, reclaiming the “frivolous” as potent expression. Thorson’s pieces epitomize this ethos: carved fissures channel light through organic masses, blurring boundaries between abstraction and corporeality.

Victoria Thorson is among our most profound sculptors—
her intelligence permeates every groove.

Thorson’s Dance with Basswood:
Silences in Solid Form

Thorson’s process begins with a tactile romance. “Basswood’s smoothness evokes the body,” she explains, guiding her chisel along knots and grain to “follow lines of energy.”

In Oculus (permanently housed at The Octagon, Roosevelt Island) and BassWood Bodies (debuted at Garrison Art Center, 2018), she manipulates weight through dark crevices and colored waxes.

Industrial metals counterbalance wood’s softness, creating tension between fragility and permanence. Her sculptures—minimalist yet emotionally resonant—invite viewers into “life’s silences and vibrations.”

Art Historian Turned Visionary:
A Dual Legacy

Thorson’s trajectory bridges academia and studio. A Ph.D. art historian, she taught at Oakland University and USC, later joining MoMA  where she exposed fake Auguste Rodin drawings with Kirk Varnedoe.

Her 1975 Rodin Graphics: A Catalogue Raisonne remains definitive. This scholarly rigor infuses her art: “Abstract forms demand precision,” she asserts.

Mentorship from figurative sculptor Bruno Lucchesi (Art Student League), abstractionist Peter Gourfain, and wood masters Wally Johnson and James Murray refined her shift from figuration to “idiosyncratic abstraction.”

Rodin to Roosevelt Island: Authenticity as Artistic Core

Thorson’s expertise in authentication parallels her sculptural philosophy—both honor “truth in material.” Her detection of Rodin forgeries revolutionized art scholarship, while her own work rejects artifice. “Wood is my partner; its flaws dictate the dance,” she says. Descended from painter Ruth Rogers-Altmann and architect Arnold Karplus, Thorson inherits a legacy of meticulous craft. In Past Tense/Future Perfect, her pieces converse with Christine Lee Tyler’s textiles and Estefania Velez Rodriguez’s installations, collectively challenging “neat categorization.”

Why This Exhibition Resonates Now

In an era of polarized discourse, the exhibit champions nuance. Gallery director Marc Straus observes, “These artists find power in contradiction.” Thorson’s sculptures—poised between weight and weightlessness—mirror societal tensions. As feminism evolves beyond binaries, her work whispers: Transformation begins in ambiguity.

Gallery Showcases Identity, Femininity in Past Tense/Future Perfect (Jun 18, 2025)

Audio Summary (75 words)

Marc Straus Gallery’s Past Tense/Future Perfect unites artists exploring identity and femininity through diverse mediums. Sculptor Victoria Thorson—a Rodin scholar and basswood whisperer—anchors the show with pieces that turn silence into form. Her journey from MoMA authenticator to abstractionist reflects the exhibit’s embrace of contradiction. Through June 30, the gallery celebrates art that finds power in the unpredictable, urging viewers to revel in the “delightful messiness of being human.”

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TAGS: Victoria Thorson, Marc Straus Gallery, Past Tense Future Perfect, Rodin authentication,
basswood sculpture, feminist art, New York exhibitions, abstract art, art history, Renée Stout