Sarasota Art Museum presents "Radical Softness," a retrospective exhibition spanning visual artist Janet Echelman's 40-year career. The show features her signature large-scale mesh sculptures suspended in cities worldwide, including the temporarily closed "Bending Arc" in St. Petersburg, alongside full-scale pieces and scale models. Echelman's work originated from a 1997 Fulbright lectureship in India, where lost paints led her to create art with fishing nets. The exhibition also includes her computer-programmed sculptures, which calculate angles, weight, and wind forces.
This exhibition matters because it offers the first comprehensive look at Echelman's creative process, showcasing physical models and the computational tools behind her monumental public art. It highlights how an accidental shift to unconventional materials—fishing nets—evolved into a globally recognized practice that merges art, engineering, and environmental awareness. The show underscores the growing institutional recognition of contemporary female sculptors working at the intersection of art and technology.