soft sculpture

noun

1. sculpture principally in vinyl, canvas, or other flexible material reproducing objects of characteristically rigid construction, as an electric fan, a typewriter, a set of drums, or a bathtub, in forms having a malleable texture and a liquescent, somewhat deflated appearance.

Other Words From

• soft-sculpture adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of soft sculpture¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

Cooper responded that the toy could also be considered a “soft sculpture” and part of a collection.

From Washington Post

And the long thin “Sleeping Serpent” is a soft sculpture sheathed in a shiny black fabric complete with faux scales whose tackiness is offset by its subtle, unexpected head — that of a slumbering woman in blue ceramic.

From New York Times

He had been making cake sculptures since at least 1962, when his first wife, artist Patty Mucha, helped sew yards of canvas stuffed with foam rubber and cardboard into the form of a giant chocolate slice of it for a pillowy soft sculpture that stands on the floor.

From Los Angeles Times

Early in his career, he was a key developer of “soft sculpture” made out of vinyl — another way of transforming ordinary objects — and also helped invent the quintessential 1960s art event, the “Happening.”

From Seattle Times

The piece casts intriguing shadows, as do Cindy Winnick’s soft sculpture of a dancer with oversize feet and Mahy Polymeropoulos’s “Sea Urchin,” which reduces the creature to a nest of blue wires.

From Washington Post