February 1987. Painted granite, painted steel. Dimensions: 48 × 53 × 21 in (122 × 135 × 53 cm).
Private collection
Emerald Go-Round extends the circular imagery of the earlier Go-Round Series, bringing found granite and a sweeping steel arc into a precarious relationship of weight, balance, and implied motion. By this point, however, color and surface had become increasingly important. I began polychroming the steel partly as protection against rust, but also painting the stone for visual interest—and, intentionally, for a certain element of shock. Applying color to stone represented a deliberate pushback against the modernist doctrine of “truth to materials” that I had adhered to almost religiously in my earlier work.
The green surface suggested by the title Emerald transforms the natural stone and reinforces the circular movement of the work. Although I soon returned largely to the natural character of stone, painting it continued to appear periodically in my work through 2006.
February 1987. Painted granite, painted steel. Dimensions: 48 × 53 × 21 in (122 × 135 × 53 cm).
Private collection
Emerald Go-Round extends the circular imagery of the earlier Go-Round Series, bringing found granite and a sweeping steel arc into a precarious relationship of weight, balance, and implied motion. By this point, however, color and surface had become increasingly important. I began polychroming the steel partly as protection against rust, but also painting the stone for visual interest—and, intentionally, for a certain element of shock. Applying color to stone represented a deliberate pushback against the modernist doctrine of “truth to materials” that I had adhered to almost religiously in my earlier work.
The green surface suggested by the title Emerald transforms the natural stone and reinforces the circular movement of the work. Although I soon returned largely to the natural character of stone, painting it continued to appear periodically in my work through 2006.
