By Kriston Capps, The Washington Post, February 19, 2025
Get up close with Kenneth Hilker’s “Bookends” (2024). At first glance, the sculpture is standoffish: a great ramshackle contraption, with limblike appendages fastened together from wooden boards that project out in haphazard arcs. Near in, though, this kraken construction reveals its logic. Precisely placed metal hinges and rhythmic gaps between the planks read like a puzzle. Yet stand back and the orderly details give way to chaos. “Bookends” makes frozen fire out of solid wood.
At its longest, “Bookends” measures 24 feet. A sculpture this sprawling needs a stage. It could hold its own in any gallery at the American University Museum, but the piece is just one of 20 large sculptures on view — none of which have enough room to breathe.
“Monumental Washington” brings together works in wood, steel, aluminum, marble and fabric: some of it carved, much of it cast and all of it huge. The show is an invitational by the nonprofit Washington Sculptors Group, which has promoted local 3D artists for more than 40 years. While some of the work is quite strong, the show lacks presence: “Monumental Washington” occupies a space so packed with work that even powerful bronzes come off as cramped.
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