Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
April 1975. Marble. Dimensions: 42 × 24 × 6 in (107 × 61 × 15 cm).
Monolithic Monument followed the Wedge Series and was among my last traditionally carved marble sculptures before a studio accident at Cornell dramatically changed the direction of my work. Reduced to a single upright planar form with softly rounded edges, the sculpture carries the “Midwest minimalism” I had begun exploring at Kent State to perhaps its purest expression. Carving is held to a minimum, allowing the simple geometry, scale, and striking natural veining of the marble to become the primary expressive elements.
In retrospect, the work stands at an important threshold. Soon afterward, a nearly completed planar marble sculpture fell from my carving table at Cornell and shattered. Two of those fragments became Falling Stone (1975), my first sculpture to dynamically position broken stone with steel and a pivotal work in my development. That accident shifted my attention away from imposing a predetermined form through carving and toward accepting the stone’s inherent shape, surface, weight, and physical energy—ideas that would soon become central to my Brute and Nature of Stone works.
April 1975. Marble. Dimensions: 42 × 24 × 6 in (107 × 61 × 15 cm).
Monolithic Monument followed the Wedge Series and was among my last traditionally carved marble sculptures before a studio accident at Cornell dramatically changed the direction of my work. Reduced to a single upright planar form with softly rounded edges, the sculpture carries the “Midwest minimalism” I had begun exploring at Kent State to perhaps its purest expression. Carving is held to a minimum, allowing the simple geometry, scale, and striking natural veining of the marble to become the primary expressive elements.
In retrospect, the work stands at an important threshold. Soon afterward, a nearly completed planar marble sculpture fell from my carving table at Cornell and shattered. Two of those fragments became Falling Stone (1975), my first sculpture to dynamically position broken stone with steel and a pivotal work in my development. That accident shifted my attention away from imposing a predetermined form through carving and toward accepting the stone’s inherent shape, surface, weight, and physical energy—ideas that would soon become central to my Brute and Nature of Stone works.