Parametric Sculpture

Hugo Urrutia is an interdisciplinary artist who is interested in the cross-pollination between art and architecture. A graduate and active member of the Architectural Association in the United Kingdom, Urrutia’s work creates a distinct spatiality located at the interstice of art and architecture. His work explores and uses the technology for design and fabrication, with a sensitive and conscious reminder of the creativity of human endeavor.

Urrutia graduated from the Architectural Association in 2013, earning a Master of Architecture in the Design & Make program. In 2000, he graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Architecture and Design and received the 2000 Outstanding Thesis Award. In 2004, he founded Decorazon Gallery in Dallas’s historic Bishop Arts District where he directed, curated and exhibited numerous art/architectural exhibitions for national and international artists.

Urrutia’s personal artwork has been exhibited in the United States, United Kingdom, Thailand, Colombia and Hong Kong. His participation in art and architectural competitions and public projects includes the AIA Cincinnati, where he received the Design Award for the 2000 National Urban Poetry I competition and the 2005 Arquine International Architecture Competition in Mexico City. His art installations The Mexican Tsunami and Making a Killing were both featured at the Art Santa Fe 2010 Contemporary Art Fair, curated by Charlotte Jackson, and University of Dallas and the McKinney Avenue Contemporary (MAC) in Dallas curated by Charissa N. Terranova. Together with the AA-DLAB 2012 team, Urrutia presented the Fallen Star at the Architectural Association Back Members' Room.

Urrutia is interested in conveying a strong concept and exploring different mediums by presenting his message in a very indirect format while creating visual simulation for the viewer.

Find original Hugo Urrutia sculptures, paintings, photography and more on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Decorazon Gallery)

Used to refer to a time rather than an aesthetic, Contemporary art generally describes pieces created after 1970 or being made by living artists anywhere in the world. This immediacy means it encompasses art responding to the present moment through diverse subjects, media and themes. Contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, performance, digital art, video and more frequently includes work that is attempting to reshape current ideas about what art can be, from Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s use of candy to memorialize a lover he lost to AIDS-related complications to Jenny Holzer’s ongoing “Truisms,” a Conceptual series that sees provocative messages printed on billboards, T-shirts, benches and other public places that exist outside of formal exhibitions and the conventional “white cube” of galleries.

Contemporary art has been pushing the boundaries of creative expression for years. Its disruption of the traditional concepts of art are often aiming to engage viewers in complex questions about identity, society and culture. In the latter part of the 20th century, contemporary movements included Land art, in which artists like Robert Smithson and Michael Heizer create large-scale, site-specific sculptures, installations and other works in soil and bodies of water; Sound art, with artists such as Christian Marclay and Susan Philipsz centering art on sonic experiences; and New Media art, in which mass media and digital culture inform the work of artists such as Nam June Paik and Rafaël Rozendaal.

The first decades of the 21st century have seen the growth of Contemporary African art, the revival of figurative painting, the emergence of street art and the rise of NFTs, unique digital artworks that are powered by blockchain technology.

Major Contemporary artists practicing now include Ai Weiwei, Cecily Brown, David Hockney, Yayoi Kusama, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Kara Walker.

Find a collection of Contemporary prints, photography, paintings, sculptures and other art on 1stDibs.

If you’re thinking about decorating your space with abstract sculpture, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

You don’t have to look for a piece that demands attention. Find a work of abstract sculpture that speaks to you. As is the case with any abstract art, whether it’s sculpture, an abstract painting or a grouping of prints, you can select a work for your living room or dining room, for example, that will either casually fade into the background or serve as a focal point. When you’re thinking about how to arrange your furniture and decor, consider color, texture and what kind of energy you’d like a specific room or corner to evoke. Abstract sculpture can go a long way in elevating a home, and its history is interesting if you’re shopping for a new piece today.

As a pioneer in naturalistic forms and figures that vividly express emotion, Auguste Rodin is often called the father of modern sculpture. His work in the 19th and early 20th century broke with artistic conventions and inspired modernism, leading to a new period of avant-garde abstraction.

Among the first artists to push abstract sculpture into the mainstream were Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. They helped define the movement of Cubism, which focused on deconstructing the world abstractly.

Later in the 20th century, the artistic movements of Italian Futurism, Dadaism, Neo-Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and minimalism all contributed to the advancement of new and more abstract sculpture designs. Italian Futurism, for example, celebrated movement, dynamics and technology in abstract sculpture. These movements passed down ideas that continue to inform abstract sculpture today.

Browse a range of modern abstract sculptures, postmodern abstract sculptures and other kinds of sculpture on 1stDibs.