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January 1975. Granite. Dimensions: 4 × 12 × 12 in (10 × 30 × 30 cm).
Stone Circle is an experimental work from the period immediately following Falling Stones, when I had begun to accept stone as a found object and an additive sculptural element rather than something that necessarily had to be carved. Discarded granite curbstones are placed in a circular progression, some partially buried while others gradually emerge, rise, and tilt like a sequence of falling—or rising—dominoes. The work develops ideas I had already explored in Above and Below and the Gallery Drawing Series, where I questioned the conventional boundaries of sculpture by treating the gallery wall and floor as active elements in the work. Here those concerns move outdoors: the ground itself becomes part of the sculpture, with the stones passing into and out of it and the circular configuration extending the composition across the landscape.
At the same time, Stone Circle reflects my discovery of and growing fascination with ancient stone circles and standing stones, where individual stones gain meaning through their placement in relation to one another, the surrounding landscape, and the viewer position. At this point the reference was exploratory rather than specifically astronomical, but it introduced ideas of circle, placement, orientation, time, and place that remained with me. These interests eventually developed on a much larger scale in public works incorporating solar and calendrical relationships, including Solstice Calendar and Via Solaris. In retrospect, Stone Circle brings together two important strands in my developing work: the activation of the surrounding space and ground, and the expressive placement of found stone within the landscape
January 1975. Granite. Dimensions: 4 × 12 × 12 in (10 × 30 × 30 cm).
Stone Circle is an experimental work from the period immediately following Falling Stones, when I had begun to accept stone as a found object and an additive sculptural element rather than something that necessarily had to be carved. Discarded granite curbstones are placed in a circular progression, some partially buried while others gradually emerge, rise, and tilt like a sequence of falling—or rising—dominoes. The work develops ideas I had already explored in Above and Below and the Gallery Drawing Series, where I questioned the conventional boundaries of sculpture by treating the gallery wall and floor as active elements in the work. Here those concerns move outdoors: the ground itself becomes part of the sculpture, with the stones passing into and out of it and the circular configuration extending the composition across the landscape.
At the same time, Stone Circle reflects my discovery of and growing fascination with ancient stone circles and standing stones, where individual stones gain meaning through their placement in relation to one another, the surrounding landscape, and the viewer position. At this point the reference was exploratory rather than specifically astronomical, but it introduced ideas of circle, placement, orientation, time, and place that remained with me. These interests eventually developed on a much larger scale in public works incorporating solar and calendrical relationships, including Solstice Calendar and Via Solaris. In retrospect, Stone Circle brings together two important strands in my developing work: the activation of the surrounding space and ground, and the expressive placement of found stone within the landscape