INSTALLATIONS 505 SAURON2011, 24'10.5" X 28"X 15", 81 LBS, LACQUERED POPLAR, LED, NEON & HALOGEN LIGHTS. COLLECTION MARA WILLIAMS505A SAURON2011, 24' 10.5" X 28" X 15", 81 LBS, LACQUERED POPLAR, LED, NEON & HALOGEN LIGHTS. COLLECTION MARA WILLIAMS490 VESSELVESSEL, 1982-2001, 40' X 19' X 40', WOOD, NEON, STEEL, ACRYLIC, ALUMINUM LEAF, IRIDESCENT PAINT. DANIELSON COURTHOUSE, DANIELSON CT. (CONNECTICUT COMMISSION ON THE ARTS)490.A VESSEL1982-2001, 40' X 19' X 40', WOOD, NEON, STEEL, ACRYLIC, ALUMINUM LEAF, IRIDESCENT PAINT. DANIELSON COURTHOUSE, DANIELSON CT. (CONNECTICUT COMMISSION ON THE ARTS)490.B VESSEL1982-2001, 40' X 19' X 40', WOOD, NEON, STEEL, ACRYLIC, ALUMINUM LEAF, IRIDESCENT PAINT. DANIELSON COURTHOUSE, DANIELSON CT. (CONNECTICUT COMMISSION ON THE ARTS)484.I V BEAM2002, 640 FEET LONG, FLUORESCENT LIGHT, L.E.D. SIGNS,STATIC SIGNS, FANS, SPEAKERS, EMERGENCY LIGHTS, STAINLESS STEEL & ALUMINUM, GRAND CENTRAL STATION # 7 SUBWAY, NYC. (ARTS FOR TRANSIT)484.L V BEAM2002, 640 FEET LONG, FLUORESCENT LIGHT, L.E.D. SIGNS,STATIC SIGNS, FANS, SPEAKERS, EMERGENCY LIGHTS, STAINLESS STEEL & ALUMINUM,GRAND CENTRAL STATION # 7 SUBWAY, NYC. (ARTS FOR TRANSIT)484.P V BEAM2002, 640 FEET LONG, FLUORESCENT LIGHT, L.E.D. SIGNS,STATIC SIGNS, FANS, SPEAKERS, EMERGENCY LIGHTS, STAINLESS STEEL & ALUMINUM,GRAND CENTRAL STATION # 7 SUBWAY, NYC. (ARTS FOR TRANSIT)484.Q V BEAM2002, 640 FEET LONG, FLUORESCENT LIGHT, L.E.D. SIGNS,STATIC SIGNS, FANS, SPEAKERS, EMERGENCY LIGHTS, STAINLESS STEEL & ALUMINUM,GRAND CENTRAL STATION # 7 SUBWAY, NYC. (ARTS FOR TRANSIT)484.G V BEAM2002, 640 FEET LONG, FLUORESCENT LIGHT, L.E.D. SIGNS,STATIC SIGNS, FANS, SPEAKERS, EMERGENCY LIGHTS, STAINLESS STEEL & ALUMINUM,GRAND CENTRAL STATION # 7 SUBWAY, NYC. (ARTS FOR TRANSIT)482 DEEP BLUE & BROKEN SYMMETRY2000, 13.5' X 77', ACRYLIC ON WALLBOARD, WESTIN HOTEL- TURNER FISHERIES MEZZANINE, BOSTON, MA482.A DEEP BLUE & BROKEN SYMMETRY"DEEP BLUE" & "BROKEN SYMMETRY", 2000, 13.5' X 77', ACRYLIC ON WALLBOARD, WESTIN HOTEL-TURNER FISHERIES MEZZANINE, BOSTON, MA482.B DEEP BLUE"DEEP BLUE" & "BROKEN SYMMETRY", 2000, 13.5' X 77', ACRYLIC ON WALLBOARD, WESTIN HOTEL-TURNER FISHERIES MEZZANINE, BOSTON, MA482.H DEEP BLUE & BROKEN SYMMETRY2000, 13.5' X 77', ACRYLIC ON WALLBOARD, WESTIN HOTEL- TURNER FISHERIES MEZZANINE, BOSTON, MA481 PLUMB LINE1998, 34' X 6" X 6", NEON, ACRYLIC, COPPER, ALUMINUM, BRASS, STAINLESS STEEL. INSTALLATION - PRIVATE COLLECTION, BOSTON MA.481.H PLUMB LINE1998, 34' X 6" X 6", NEON, ACRYLIC, COPPER, ALUMINUM, BRASS, STAINLESS STEEL. INSTALLATION - PRIVATE COLLECTION, BOSTON MA.481 PLUMB LINE1998, 34' X 6" X 6", NEON, ACRYLIC, COPPER, ALUMINUM, BRASS, STAINLESS STEEL. INSTALLATION - PRIVATE COLLECTION, BOSTON MA.479 TRON - 1999, 50' X 2' X 2', RED COLD CATHODE LIGHT, STEEL, WOOD, ACRYLIC TOWER 49, NYC. (TEMPORARY EXHIBIT) I was asked to do a sculpture for this space in an office building that is across from the Rockefeller Center in NYC. The idea for this piece had been brewing on a back burner in my mind for a few years, and I decided this would be a good place to accomplish it. The idea came from a number of sources. First, Gatling guns, that are still being made, were the first machine guns developed for the Union side of our Civil War in the 1860s. The idea was to have many rifle barrels arranged in a cylinder, so the barrels had a chance to shoot, eject the spent shell, be reloaded, and cool as they were cranked around to the firing position. Such tools of war have been one of my fascinations since childhood, and this devise, in every reiteration, looks fearsomely simple and lethal. Today’s bombers, fighter jets and helicopters use this same approach in what they call rotary cannons to destroy tanks and murder what often turn out to be civilians. And those occurrences are beamed into our living rooms. continued in next photo . I was asked to do a sculpture for this space in an office building that is across from the Rockefeller Center in NYC. The idea for this piece had been brewing on a back burner in my mind for a few years, and I decided this would be a good place to accomplish it. The idea came from a number of sources. Full story...479 B TRON1999, 50' X 2' X 2', RED COLD CATHODE LIGHT, STEEL, WOOD, ACRYLIC, TOWER 49, NYC. (TEMPORARY INSTALLATION AT TOWER 49, NYC) continued... The second source for the sculpture is the presence of the nuclear facility that we can see from our bedroom in Vermont. Until recently, there were 89 control rods, suspended in a pool of water 70’ above ground, which were producing the heat to drive turbines for electricity. It is amusing that we would wind up in a place where we could actually see the place that produced the electricity that my sculptures feed on. The third impetus for “Tron” was watching the footage of our ability to guide missiles into Middle Eastern windows. Because they have different ideas. The fourth factor that enabled the “Tron” idea was the hundreds of feet of red Cold Cathode light I retrieved from one of my public art installations that had to be removed for Boston’s Big Dig project. Always looking to economize, not waste, and turn unfortunate events into something positive, these thousands of dollars of red tubes of gas have instigated all the sculptures that have and will be in my sculptures that use them. continued in next image.479 D TRON1999, 50' X 2' X 2', RED COLD CATHODE LIGHT, STEEL, WOOD, ACRYLIC, TOWER 49, NYC. (TEMPORARY INSTALLATION AT TOWER 49, NYC) continued... I thought that I could get away with all of these associations if no one asked what my intentions were. Because it was made for the space proportionally, in both size and physical presence; and was in the color scheme of the red granite walls, I thought it would make an interesting addition for people who don’t do a lot of reflection and interpretation. I also made red paintings that appeared to be snap shots of maybe Mars to suggest that this device was out there in space. At the pointed end, the form looks like it has quite a bit of use on it, as if it was a chipped and no longer a smooth tool bit. (That would be hard to see, as I often include details that are obscure or not visible. I like that we see the moon so often, but not with the degree of detail that we would have if were walking on it - I am after that allure.) At the tail end, I do vaguely suggest a squids shape after pumping itself through the water. continued in next image.479 F TRON1999, 50' X 2' X 2', RED COLD CATHODE LIGHT, STEEL, WOOD, ACRYLIC, TOWER 49, NYC. (TEMPORARY) continued... Squids move easily in both directions, and my sculptures often are meant to look like they do as well. (One of my key sources for all my work is the 1954 movie I saw as a child of “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea”. In that movie, a giant squid battles with the submarine.) Well, the sculpture was approved by the art people (who often see things through Formalism) and a contingent of the building staff. I was most pleased that these people who keep the building functioning were very excited. This was not just a perplexing work of art for them; it was a working thing that solved all the technical issues with cool looking, custom made solutions. They embraced this new thing as something they had never seen before and could not have come up with. next image... 479 H TRON1999, 50' X 2' X 2', RED COLD CATHODE LIGHT, STEEL, WOOD, ACRYLIC, TOWER 49, NYC. (TEMPORARY INSTALLATION AT TOWER 49, NYC) continued... I am not claiming they would like it better than a Gatling gun. I also thought that this being NYC, the buildings office workers were more aware of the world, culture and inured to odd ball stuff. I also didn’t realize that the head of maintenance had been in the hospital when the approval process went through. When he came back, he referred to it as HIS building and threatened to quit. And there grew a group of dissenters who were creeped out and wanted it down prior to its 3 month duration. While I was installing it, it was clear that yet again, people hated or loved it. I quit doing public art because I do not need to be liked or need majority approval. There is a fundamental difference with public art that people have to live with, and art in a museum, where people are seeking out a new experience, and can leave when they wish.265 SPINE - ELLIS O'FARRELL GARAGE S.F.1993, 262' L. X 5' W., ALUMINUM, STAINLESS STEEL, FLUORESCENT LIGHT, WOOD, PAINT. ELLIS O'FARRELL GARAGE S.F., CA. (SAN FRANCISCO ART COMMISSION)265.I SPINE - ELLIS O'FARRELL GARAGE S.F.1993, 262' L. X 5' W., ALUMINUM, STAINLESS STEEL, FLUORESCENT LIGHT, WOOD, PAINT. ELLIS O' FARRELL GARAGE S.F., CA. (SAN FRANCISCO ART COMMISSION)265.J SPINE - ELLIS O'FARRELL GARAGE S.F.1993, 262' L. X 5' W., ALUMINUM, STAINLESS STEEL, FLUORESCENT LIGHT, WOOD, PAINT. ELLIS O' FARRELL GARAGE S.F., CA. (SAN FRANCISCO ART COMMISSION)265.L SPINE - ELLIS O'FARRELL GARAGE S.F.1993, 262' L. X 5' W., ALUMINUM, STAINLESS STEEL, FLUORESCENT LIGHT, WOOD, PAINT. ELLIS O' FARRELL GARAGE S.F., CA. (SAN FRANCISCO ART COMMISSION)265.N SPINE - ELLIS O'FARRELL GARAGE S.F.1993, 262' L. X 5' W., ALUMINUM, STAINLESS STEEL, FLUORESCENT LIGHT, WOOD, PAINT. ELLIS O' FARRELL GARAGE S.F., CA. (SAN FRANCISCO ART COMMISSION)265.R SPINE - ELLIS O'FARRELL GARAGE S.F.1993, 262' L. X 5' W., ALUMINUM, STAINLESS STEEL, FLUORESCENT LIGHT, WOOD, PAINT. ELLIS O'FARRELL GARAGE S.F., CA. (SAN FRANCISCO ART COMMISSION)262 and 264-TAPESTRY262"PROGENY", 1992, 18'3" X 16' DIAMETER, WOOD, PAINT, RED COLD CATHODE, LEXAN, & WIRE. 264. TAPESTRY, 1993, 16' X 70', ACRYLIC ON LINEN, CITICORP CENTER ATRIUM (TEMPORARY EXHIBIT CITICORP NYC) (IN CONJUNCTION WITH MOMA ART LENDING SERVICE)262 PROGENY1992, 18'3" X 16' DIAMETER, WOOD, PAINT, RED COLD CATHODE, LEXAN, & WIRE. (TEMPORARY EXHIBIT CITICORP NYC) (IN CONJUNCTION WITH MOMA ART LENDING SERVICE)262.C PROGENY detail1992, 18'3" X 16' DIAMETER, WOOD, PAINT, RED COLD CATHODE, LEXAN, & WIRE. (TEMPORARY EXHIBIT CITICORP NYC) (IN CONJUNCTION WITH MOMA ART LENDING SERVICE)262.E PROGENY detail1992, 18'3" X 16' DIAMETER, WOOD, PAINT, RED COLD CATHODE, LEXAN, & WIRE. (TEMPORARY EXHIBIT CITICORP NYC) (IN CONJUNCTION WITH MOMA ART LENDING SERVICE)252.A RED LIGHTNING1990, 70'X 38'X 38", 1640' OF RED COLD CATHODE LIGHT & ACRYLIC. BOSTON MBTA RED LINE, SOUTH STATION, (DESTROYED 1998 FOR "THE BIG DIG").213 PEARL1987,29' X 7'11" X 8'10", ARGON NEON, ACRYLIC, KEMPNER-STEIN RESIDENCE, S.F., CA.210.D SCOTTSDALE1987, 57" X 12' X 2. 25" PAINTED STEEL GATES AT HYATT HOTEL, SCOTTSDALE, AZ.210.A SCOTTSDALE1987, 57" X 12' X 2. 25" PAINTED STEEL GATES AT HYATT HOTEL, SCOTTSDALE, AZ.209 MADISON1987,12' X 61' X 45', ALUMINUM, ACRYLIC & COLD-CATHODE. U.S. FEDERAL COURTHOUSE MADISON, WI.209.E MADISON1987,12' X 61' X 45', ALUMINUM, ACRYLIC & COLD-CATHODE. U.S. FEDERAL COURTHOUSE MADISON, WI.208 ANCHOR1986, 66" X 90" X 22", WOOD, NEON & ACRYLIC. -INSTALLATION: UNIBANK A-S, 20 W. 55TH, NYC.208.A ANCHOR1986, 66" X 90" X 22", WOOD, NEON & ACRYLIC. -INSTALLATION: UNIBANK A-S, 20 W. 55TH, NYC.207B RAYOVAC1986, 20" X 49'4" X 8", WOOD, PAINT, ACRYLIC, COPPER LEAF, INCANDESCENT & COLD CATHODE LIGHT. RAYOVAC CORP., MADISON WI.207.H RAYOVAC1986, 20" X 49'4" X 8", WOOD, PAINT, ACRYLIC, COPPER LEAF, INCANDESCENT & COLD CATHODE LIGHT.RAYOVAC CORP., MADISON WI.207.M RAYOVAC1986, 20" X 49'4" X 8", WOOD, PAINT, ACRYLIC, COPPER LEAF, INCANDESCENT & COLD CATHODE LIGHT.RAYOVAC CORP., MADISON WI.174A VADERThe impetus for this sculpture, "Vader", goes back to my childhood enthrallment with seeing the armor collection at The Metropolitan Museum in NYC. Soon after that, I started building shields, catapults, a wheeled battering ram and a suit of armor hammered out of steel plates. During all of this, the cold war was being waged with the Soviet Union - we had ridiculous drills at school to prepare for a nuclear attack. More... The impetus for this sculpture, "Vader", goes back to my childhood enthrallment with seeing the armor collection at The Metropolitan Museum in NYC. Soon after that, I started building shields, catapults, a wheeled battering ram and a suit of armor hammered out of steel plates. During all of this, the cold war was being waged with the Soviet Union - we had ridiculous drills at school to prepare for a nuclear attack. Full story...174B VADER1984, 10'2"x 37"x 24", wood, paint, brass, neon, acrylic. The Cuban missile crises almost went there. It is also significant that I was born close in time to the atom bombing of Japan, and had seen as a child, the films made of these catastrophic events. Consequently, I came to view humans as ominous inventors and destroyers. At that time, I also saw the impressive Dinosaur collection at the Museum of Natural History, so the idea of a mass extinction coming from the sky was, and still is influential. More... 174D VADER1984, 10'2"x 37"x 24", wood, paint, brass, neon, acrylic. The tools of war, and the majesty and horror of it's remains, are central to my formation as an artist. But now the horror is the slow destruction of our whole planet by humans. For an artist to just arrange colors and shapes into interesting configurations or to ignore in other ways what is happening now is escapism and denial. More...174E VADER1984, 10'2"x 37"x 24", wood, paint, brass, neon, acrylic. Back to Vader, the name is borrowed from Darth Vader, as a tie-in to popular culture. This title also sits next to invader well, and again, has me building a now virtual, suit of armor. As before, just carpentry of common building and advertising materials - plywood, neon, acrylic and brazing rods, (albeit transformed) root the sculpture in the world at large, not just the art world. One of the poses for those suits of armor at the MET is with a long sword held in front of the chest with the tip on the ground. I chose to depict my knight in black armor with the neon sword inverted - splitting him in two and penetrating up through his helmet. This gruesome idea is depicted as the kind of noble gesture that one sees in Kurosawa's films when a Samurai fails. The overall shape also suggests an association with a crucifixion as well as perhaps that famous Abu Ghraib electrical torture photograph that came later. 141 NY STUDIO 6-1982AS SEEN IN WHITNEY MUSEUM "HIGH STYLES" CATALOGUE AND NEW YORK MAGAZINE121.B CONTEMPLATING CROQUETORIGINALLY FOR - TABLEAUX SHOW AT WAVE HILL, BRONX, N.Y., 1981. PRIVATE RESIDENCE121 CONTEMPLATING CROQUETTABLEAUX FOR WAVE HILL, BRONX, N.Y., 1981.073 SPAGNUOLOINSTALLATION, 1979, 8’ X 26’, NEON & ACRYLIC.034 RIPPLE & SPROUT1977, 2 PARTS - RIPPLE - 4' X 42' & SPROUT 11'4" X 19', COLD CATHODE LIGHT & ACRYLIC026 BERMAN1976, 40' X 4", COLD CATHODE, STEEL, ACRYLIC, PRIVATE RESIDENCE HYDE PARK, MA.016.E SONNABENDINSTALLATION 1975, 4'X16" X 28', ARGON COLD-CATHODE & ACRYLIC.PRIVATE RESIDENCE, BOSTON MA.016.K SONNABENDINSTALLATION 1975, 4'X16" X 28', ARGON COLD-CATHODE & ACRYLIC.PRIVATE RESIDENCE, BOSTON MA005.AB GUNDINSTALLATION 1972, 3 WIRES WITH NEON CROSS BARS THAT PENETRATED A WALL AND CONTINUED. 25'X 8' NEON & WIRE PRIVATE RESIDENCE SHOWS | FURNITURE | SCULPTURES | BIOMORPHIC DRAWINGS | GEOMETRIC DRAWINGS | PASTEL DRAWINGS | BLACK BOX