About
Although Neri’s work includes many paintings, drawings, and prints, his primary medium is sculpture. Typically he uses plaster, but sometimes he creates marble or bronze works, such as the marble Aurelia Roma. Neri is noted for his life-size sculptures, which though clearly figurative in nature, are abstracted figures rather than realist representations. The surfaces of his sculptures are sanded, chipped, or painted to emphasize surface textures. Paradoxically, his approach to sculpture is often described as “painterly,” and his approach to drawing and painting is correspondingly described as “sculptural.”
Aurelia Roma is a representative Neri sculpture, both in subject — the lone, nude woman — and in style. Carved from marble, it is monumental despite the marring of its surface; impersonal, yet compelling.
Dimensions: 10′
Year Completed: 1994
Material: White Italian marble
Donor: Laumeier Sculpture Park commission from the bequest of Aurelia and George Schlapp
