Barbara Segal is a sculptor and master stone carver. She studied at Pratt Institute, NY, and the L’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. She has worked in the great marble studios in Italy, alongside artists and artisans such as Jacques Lipshitz and Augustin Cárdenas, at Tommasi Fonderia and SGF Studio Scultura. Segal’s work has been exhibited extensively in galleries and museums across the United States and Europe. Her work is in the collections of the Neuberger Museum of Art, the White House, Rihanna, Leslie Wexner, Malcolm Forbes, and others. Segal has also received public commissions, including the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Arts and Design commission. This large scale aluminum work, “Muhheakantuck,” is sited on the viaduct of the Metro North Yonkers station. With an eye schooled in the forms, patterns and textures of Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces, Segal creates pop and fashion icons in rare and exquisite stones.
Artist Statement
Stacked like the Romanesque architecture I experienced in my youth, the ladies handbags are explorations of my own life, and at the same time documentation of women in our consumerist society.
I was inspired by the rich colors of my mother’s designer clothing, by Mother Nature’s splendor in the stone quarries of the world, and by the art and architecture of the Italian renaissance. I try to recreate the joy and awe I felt at 19, swept away by Bernini’s carving.
My work speaks of loss of social status and yearning to regain it, makes comparisons between objects of religious devotion and symbols of wealth, and offers critique of the way popular culture encourages idol worship in the form of material goods.