Arlene Shechet's (b. 1951, New York, United States) interdisciplinary practice explores the material, formal, and historical possibilities of sculpture through ceramics, painting, drawing, and installation. Known for her gravity-defying compositions and inventive use of materials, Shechet creates works that challenge conventional distinctions between abstraction and figuration, monumentality and fragility, craft and fine art. Her sculptures often combine hand-built and industrial processes, embracing improvisation, instability, and transformation as central elements of their form. Through an intuitive yet highly technical approach, Shechet has significantly expanded the language of contemporary sculpture and is widely credited with helping to reinvigorate the role of ceramics within contemporary art.
Born in New York City, Shechet received a BA from New York University and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Throughout her career, she has drawn upon a wide range of artistic, historical, and cultural references, creating works that engage with questions of materiality, perception, and the human condition. Her practice is characterized by unexpected juxtapositions of texture, colour, scale, and form, resulting in sculptures that appear simultaneously precarious and balanced, playful and profound.
Shechet has been the subject of major institutional exhibitions including All at Once at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2015), Porcelain, No Simple Matter at The Frick Collection, New York (2016–17), Full Steam Ahead at Madison Square Park, New York (2018), and Girl Group at Storm King Art Center (2024), her largest outdoor installation to date. In addition to her sculptural practice, she has developed an acclaimed curatorial approach that places her own work in dialogue with historical collections, notably through projects at The Frick Collection, The Phillips Collection, Harvard Art Museums, and The Drawing Center.
Her work is held in major public collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Centre Pompidou, National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Nasher Sculpture Center, Walker Art Center, and Harvard Art Museums. Among numerous distinctions, Shechet has received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and the College Art Association's Artist Award for a Distinguished Body of Work. In 2023, she was elected a lifetime member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives and works in New York City and the Hudson Valley.