Martin Puryear's 1978 sculpture *Self* opens a survey of his work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, titled “Martin Puryear: Nexus,” which runs through Sunday before traveling to the Cleveland Museum of Art in April. Curated by Emily Liebert, Reto Thüring, and Ian Alteveer, the exhibition argues that Puryear's abstract, craft-intensive sculptures—like *A Column for Sally Hemings* (2021)—are not merely formalist exercises but carry political and historical meanings that are deliberately withheld, challenging viewers to read beyond elegant surfaces.
The review reframes Puryear's legacy, suggesting he may be the most influential American artist working today, having pointed the way for generations of sculptors who embrace opacity and refusal. By foregrounding works that engage with subjects like slavery and nonconsensual relationships, the exhibition counters decades of formalist readings and positions Puryear as a crucial nexus in contemporary art, proving his abstractions have always been political.