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Reach Out #3

Object Details

Luce Center Label
Reach Out #3 is both an abstract sculpture and a portrayal of two people talking. In the 1980s, Washington, D.C., artist Yuriko Yamaguchi created a number of hanging wall structures that attempted to "bridge [a] distance or void" by "unifying two things" with wood. She was inspired to create this series by AT&T's advertising slogan urging customers to "reach out and touch someone." Here, she chose to link the two figures with a fragile twig that emphasizes the fleeting nature of their conversation. Yamaguchi also wanted to explore connections between the man-made and the natural, so she linked two milled and treated pieces of lumber with a stick that she found on a long walk in the woods. (Yuriko Yamaguchi, interview, December 20, 2005)
Luce Object Quote
"Connections [are] the essence of my work." Yuriko Yamaguchi, interview, December 20, 2005
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Artist
Yuriko Yamaguchi, born Osaka, Japan 1948
Date
1989
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Anthony T. Podesta
Medium
natural, stained and painted wood
Dimensions
overall: 34 x 72 1/2 x 3 in. (86.4 x 184.2 x 7.6 cm.)
Type
Sculpture

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  • Asian American Artists and Selected Works
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