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Lee Bontecou, Untitled, 1970, vacuum-formed plastic, aniline dye and frosted acrylic, 9 by 10 by 7 inches, collection of William Giles.

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LEE BONTECOU SCULPTURES DRAWING AT KNOEDLER & COMPANY

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NEW YORK CITY — “Lee Bontecou: Vacuum-formed Sculptures and Related Drawings” will be on view March 15—April 28 at Knoedler & Company.

Bontecou’s early years — with summers spent in Nova Scotia, where she often returns to this day — imbued her with a lifelong love for and fascination with nature and the sea.

Using a vacuum-forming machine invented by an artist friend, Bontecou began to experiment, seeking to make a lighter-weight, translucent sculpture.

She created a series of works in the shapes of plants and fish by carving blocks of Styrofoam into the desired component shapes and placing them on the bed of the machine. The machine heated a sheet of plastic and used a vacuum to mold the pliant plastic over the carved shapes. The result was a translucent plastic cast of the surface of the Styrofoam carving. Bontecou then attached the sections together, suggesting the overlapping of gills, the petals of flowers, plates of armor or shells.

The vacuum-formed plastic sculptures are among Bontecou’s most enigmatic and arresting works. Overtly representational, they embody curiously disturbing, sometimes menacing, interpretations of their subjects — the fish are sharply scaled, with ferocious teeth, and are shown in the act of swallowing and ingesting smaller fish. While the plants appear uncannily mutated.

This will be the first exhibition exclusively devoted to Bontecou’s vacuum-formed plastic sculptures since they were shown at Leo Castelli Gallery in 1971. The 17 sculptures, which date from as early as 1967, include a number of works, newly released by the artist, that have never been previously exhibited. A selection of related drawings and prints, ranging in date from 1968 to 2007, will also be exhibited.

“Lee Bontecou: Vacuum-formed Sculptures and Related Drawings” will be Knoedler’s third exhibition of the artist’s work since her 2003–04 retrospective exhibit.

The gallery is at 19 East 70th Street. For information, www.knoedlergallery.com or 212-794-0550.