Formless Matter and Its Devastating Gestures

Denise Duong and Gabriel Friedman

Formless Matter and Its Devastating Gestures

Denise Duong and Gabriel Friedman, Formless Matter and Its Devastating Gestures drawing, 2022. Graphite on paper. Courtesy of the artist.

Overview

Formless Matter and Its Devastating Gestures

May 28 - April 26, 2026

Campbell Art Park

Admission is always free; tickets are not required

This monumental outdoor installation by Oklahoma City–based artists Denise Duong and Gabriel Friedman transforms Campbell Art Park into a site of story, symbolism, and discovery. Conceived as a constellation of six sculptural forms, including a head, a hand, and four birdlike spheres, the work invites viewers to enter a world where order and chaos intertwine.

The head, rising nearly thirteen feet above ground, recalls a colossal figure emerging from the earth. Constructed of cedar and embellished with Duong’s signature floral motifs, it features a series of hidden apertures. Through these openings, visitors glimpse a vivid interior world of characters, narratives, and light, an imagined cosmos of memory and imagination. The hand reaches toward the smallest bird, evoking an innocent gesture of recognition and care.

The four bird sculptures, ranging from five to twelve feet in diameter, are woven from welded steel rod. Visitors can step through doorways aligned along a single axis, as if passing through sightlines that extend from one bird to the next, culminating in the open eye of the woman. Within each form, delicate metal drawings depict fragments of family, two parents and two children, rendered as abstracted archetypes that speak to lineage, resilience, and loss.

Together, these six sculptures form a space both contemplative and communal. The work is grounded in chaos theory, in close observation of the artists’ young daughter, and in the search for meaning amid disorder. As Duong and Friedman note, “Beneath the veil of order lies the grand story of humanity. The question endures: How do we create order from chaos?”

About the Artists

Artists Denise Duong and Gabriel Friedman pose in their studio along with dog Noodles
Denise Duong and Gabriel Friedman. Photo by Beau Brand. Courtesy of the artists.

Images

  • Denise Duong and Gabriel Friedman, Formless Matter and Its Devastating Gestures drawing, 2022. Graphite on paper. Courtesy of the artist.
  • Denise Duong and Gabriel Friedman. Photo by Beau Brand. Courtesy of the artists.

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