Advice to Polonius

Al Hebert has been a prominent figure in the Detroit art scene since he received his MFA at Wayne State University in 1967.  In the Exhibition “Advice to Polonius” Hebert references Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Polonius, a man of experience, who gives some life advice to his son Laertes.  Polonius states “neither a borrower nor a lender be”, and advise him to borrow objects extensively from many sources, and then lend them to sculptural assemblage.

This is exactly what Hebert does in the creation of the works in this exhibit, incorporating Objet trouvé  from France, Czech Republic, California and Michigan.  These found objects often possess a historical quality, arising either from age, or facture acquired through passage in the world. Irregular materials, often composed upon a structure of geometry, or sacred geometry, bring a semblance of order; while the materials themselves contribute to meaning through a subject matter reference.