Review: Richard Hunt
Metamorphosis – A Retrospective

Richard Hunt: Metamorphosis – A Retrospective presents over 30 sculptures that display a devoted manipulation of metal through a distinct gentleness rarely associated with such industrial materials, instead predominantly seen within the malleable confines of soft materials. The term ‘metamorphosis’ itself is defined as the change in form or nature of something into a completely different one, thus rendering his title entirely fitting as viewers are invited to engage in an intimate dialogue with his masterful shape-shifting creations. This retrospective evidences Hunt’s transformations of steel and bronze into organic structures of liberation that envelope not just physical form, but a spiritual and mythological influence alongside his long-standing activist position within the Civil Rights Movement. 

Hunt’s political engagement in the mid-1950s is made explicit in the construction of Hero’s Head (1956) and Lithograph print Prometheus (1956), both in response to the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till. Hunt was amongst the thousands of mourners to attend the open-casket funeral that revealed the teenager’s disfigured head. The former used welded steel with a stainless-steel base to immortalise the inhumane brutality that Till endured, forcing viewers to come face to face with the physical realities of discrimination. The material itself has a very specific aesthetic, and whilst Hunt’s other works encapsulate a duality between the industrial and natural in abstract explorations, the head of Emmett Till has a timeless dominance that refuses to be shielded away from. It became a powerful addition to the catalyst for the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, and a vital reminder of the unforgivable cruelties that occurred in American history. 

Placed on a plinth, the sculpture is shorter than what would be typically expected. Initially, this suggested something conformist as viewers look down at the head, but upon further consideration it not only resonates with the act of looking down into Till’s open casket as thousands did, but also the natural way in which adults generally look down at children. Furthermore, cementing Hunt’s political activist position and centring on the devastating fact that this diabolical act did not occur to just anyone, but it occurred to a child.

Elsewhere, Hunt blurs the lines between disciplines in works like Opposed Linear Forms (1961) and Linear Sequence (1962). These merge the 2 and 3 dimensional worlds, forming compelling visual dialogues influenced by mythology, namely Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’. Here, Hunt distorts the chromed steel in organic movements akin to that of a pencil or charcoal drawing, elucidating an impression of drawing in space as he explores spatial dynamism - an ode to his years honing his craft in the basement of his father’s barbershop. Both pieces show masses of warped substance balanced upon attenuated legs of steel, rendering something that was once considered playful into something polysemic through its delicately calculated composition. 

While both hold anthropomorphic traits, Opposed Linear Forms retains a passive stance through its concentrated forms as it draws an expanding focal point. Whereas Linear Sequence maintains a more liberating and chaotic image, with the right attenuated leg lifting off the ground in hurried animation. Together they conjure an animalistic portrayal not too dissimilar to that of an apex predator chasing its prey, revealing an intriguing dichotomy between the malleability of natural life and the industrial nature of the material.

A later work, Offset (1967) amalgamates elements from Cubism, Surrealism and the Machine Age style to build an enigmatic form co-existing as both geometric and organic, with each weld acting as a physical fusion between the harshness of African American history and the progressive steps towards equality. Hunt’s adept contortions of steel displays a distinct devotion for metalwork that reshaped his “quest for freedom”, which soon existed as a voice for his people. Sculpture, for Hunt, became not just a manipulation of materials but a “dynamism” of his community. The amorphous construction evidences an intuitive and knowledgeable command of steel as it extrudes out of its frame in a chaotic encapsulation of African American liberation. Rough and jagged; seemingly unresolved in its dissarrayed composition, Offset speaks to the chaos that ensued throughout the Civil Rights Movement and its subsequent emotional trauma for communities. 

With sharp edges juxtaposing against its biotic fluidity and the mimesis of ripples, the steel contorts into a suggestion of water or, noting Hunt’s influence from mythic narratives of Greek and Roman antiquity, a portal that perhaps exists as a path towards true freedom. A symbol of revolt intricately entangled with hope.

Throughout the exhibition, Hunt demonstrates a hybridity of forms in his reconfigurations of dense material into abstracted evocations of the body. His layering of historic references and temporal fluidity manifest as organic flows within unyielding matter, situating him as a pivotal figure in shaping the discourse of American sculpture. As he harmoniously encapsulates various dichotomies, Hunt builds upon natural rhythms to form a rigorously articulated sculptural language that displays a significant command and understanding of the ductile material. Ultimately, Hunt defines his position within the canon of 20th-21st Century sculpture as assured and indispensable, through his authoritative craft, rendering steel a symbol of agency in his hands.