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August 1990. Granite, steel. Dimensions: 52 × 91 × 41 in (132 × 231 × 104 cm). Private collection - Palo Alto
Pique à Terre III, the third work in the series, developed as a spin-off from my earlier Rounder and Go-Round Series, carrying forward their circular vocabulary and my ongoing interest in combining stone and metal. Here, two massive granite forms are brought into an unexpectedly animated relationship by the sweeping steel arc. Weight, balance, and suspension transform these inherently earthbound materials into a composition suggesting gesture and arrested movement—what I have described as the “choreographing” of stone.
The title comes from classical French ballet and refers to a pose in which one toe lightly touches the ground, the other foot remains firmly planted, and the arm makes a sweeping gesture. In this series I began thinking of myself almost as a choreographer, arranging heavy stone and metal so that they appear to dance. Pique à Terre III makes that idea especially physical: the granite seems to pivot, reach, and balance around the circular steel form, turning mass and gravity into a sense of movement and levity.
August 1990. Granite, steel. Dimensions: 52 × 91 × 41 in (132 × 231 × 104 cm). Private collection - Palo Alto
Pique à Terre III, the third work in the series, developed as a spin-off from my earlier Rounder and Go-Round Series, carrying forward their circular vocabulary and my ongoing interest in combining stone and metal. Here, two massive granite forms are brought into an unexpectedly animated relationship by the sweeping steel arc. Weight, balance, and suspension transform these inherently earthbound materials into a composition suggesting gesture and arrested movement—what I have described as the “choreographing” of stone.
The title comes from classical French ballet and refers to a pose in which one toe lightly touches the ground, the other foot remains firmly planted, and the arm makes a sweeping gesture. In this series I began thinking of myself almost as a choreographer, arranging heavy stone and metal so that they appear to dance. Pique à Terre III makes that idea especially physical: the granite seems to pivot, reach, and balance around the circular steel form, turning mass and gravity into a sense of movement and levity.