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Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
Image 1 of 1
August 1975. Granite. Dimensions: 54 × 32 × 18 in (137 × 81 × 46 cm). Destroyed.
Stone Assemblage I, 1975
Stone Assemblage I was the first sculpture I made after Falling Stones and marks an important next step in my changing relationship with stone. Rather than carving a single block in the traditional subtractive manner, I began using found stone as an additive, assemblage element—in this case discarded granite curbstones whose existing shapes, fractured surfaces, drill marks, and history became part of the sculpture. The stones are joined and aligned with concealed steel pins, allowing the separate elements to read as a single upright configuration. This fastening method was transitional; I would soon abandon hidden connections in favor of making the structural forces and means of assembly visibly—and physically—central to the tensegrity or Brute Series that followed.
The work also reflects my growing interest the work of Isamu Noguchi and an Eastern, particularly Japanese, sensibility toward stone—accepting the material largely as found and allowing its intrinsic character to “speak,” rather than imposing a predetermined form upon it. The stacked granite elements create a spare, gestural composition that suggests the strokes of East Asian brush calligraphy: the strong vertical mass is crossed by a broad horizontal element and animated by the angled stone above. In this sense, Stone Assemblage I represents an early convergence of ideas that would become fundamental to my work—the acceptance of found stone, assemblage as a method, and the search for a dynamic relationship among mass, gesture, balance, and gravity.
August 1975. Granite. Dimensions: 54 × 32 × 18 in (137 × 81 × 46 cm). Destroyed.
Stone Assemblage I, 1975
Stone Assemblage I was the first sculpture I made after Falling Stones and marks an important next step in my changing relationship with stone. Rather than carving a single block in the traditional subtractive manner, I began using found stone as an additive, assemblage element—in this case discarded granite curbstones whose existing shapes, fractured surfaces, drill marks, and history became part of the sculpture. The stones are joined and aligned with concealed steel pins, allowing the separate elements to read as a single upright configuration. This fastening method was transitional; I would soon abandon hidden connections in favor of making the structural forces and means of assembly visibly—and physically—central to the tensegrity or Brute Series that followed.
The work also reflects my growing interest the work of Isamu Noguchi and an Eastern, particularly Japanese, sensibility toward stone—accepting the material largely as found and allowing its intrinsic character to “speak,” rather than imposing a predetermined form upon it. The stacked granite elements create a spare, gestural composition that suggests the strokes of East Asian brush calligraphy: the strong vertical mass is crossed by a broad horizontal element and animated by the angled stone above. In this sense, Stone Assemblage I represents an early convergence of ideas that would become fundamental to my work—the acceptance of found stone, assemblage as a method, and the search for a dynamic relationship among mass, gesture, balance, and gravity.