From Building Stone Magazine, July-August 1979:
Take mass and equilibrium, capture them in an arrangement of discs, whole and segmented. The result is a dramatic outdoor modernist sculpture presently enhancing the plaza of the Seagrams Building on Park Avenue in New York City.
"Guennette," the pink Laurentian -granite sculpture executed at the North Barre Granite Company in Barre, Vermont, is the work of Michael Heizer an artist well known for his "visionary" earthworks and giant sculptures. The 46 ton sculpture was commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and acquired through funds provided by Christophe de Menil.
Mr. Heizer, who in the past has used bulldozers, pneumatic drills, and dynamite to create his earthworks, has in this case created a somewhat traditional piece which in one critic's opinion, effectively handles a display in a busy urban environment like Manhattan. Enhancing its piquancy also is the artist's choice of medium, the rich Laurentian granite quarried in Canada.
Other sculptures of Michael Heizer include: CITY/COMPLEX I, built in the Nevada desert; ADJACENT, AGAINST, UPON located in Seattle; and the most recent work, THIS EQUALS THAT commissioned by the state of Michigan, is presently under construction.
"Guennette" rises to a height of 8'6" and consists of one 14' whole disc weighing 23 tons and four 7' discs cut into 10 segments each weighing 5 3/4 tons. The sculpture will be on display at the Seagrams Building through October 11th.
CREDITS:
Sculpture:
Guennette
Artist:
Michael Heizer
Rigging Engineers:
Frank J. Allecia
Bradford Trucking & Rigging Corp. Maspeth, New York
Owner:
The Metropolitan Musem of Art, New York
Photo Credit:
Xavier Fourcade, Inc,
This sculpture was reviewed in the New York Times on July 15, 1999, which wrote:
"It is particularly impressive when seen from the front, as one approaches from the sidewalk; seen from the back, as one leaves the Seagram Building, it offers a much less interesting configuration.
"But the ease with which Mr. Heizer handles the scale of the work is not a matter of small consequence, nor is his choice of material at all incidental to its success. The forms he uses may be familiar, even hackneyed, but in this instance, at least, the sculptor understands what it takes for a work to survive in a busy urban setting."
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