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| Mahatma, 1978-79 |
When I first read about the new exhibition, Mark di Suvero at Governors Island: Presented by Storm King Art Center, I immediately checked my calendar to find a free Sunday afternoon to devote to viewing the show, which will be on view through September 25, 2011. I selected Father’s Day, as I would have invited my Dad to join me if he were still alive. Thus, my excursion was really a tribute to him as he had always shared his deep love of contemporary art with me.
I was also quite curious to explore Governors Island since it had been sold to the City of New York by the U.S. Coast Guard in 2003 for $1 and is now in the process of being transformed into an urban public park. I had heard about the Veuve Cliquot Polo Classic, which last year featured Prince Harry, on the island. But, I did not expect to find such a bizarre mélange of attractions, which included a punk festival, trapeze school, miniature golf course and organic farm. In the midst of this unique setting, 11 monumental di Suvero sculptures were strategically installed.
Late Sunday morning, I packed my small backpack with day trip essentials and jumped on the downtown R train to the Whitehall Street station. However, due to construction, I had to go to Brooklyn and then take the Manhattan-bound R train back to Whitehall Street. I then walked a couple of blocks to the Battery Maritime Building, which is adjacent to the Staten Island Ferry, to board the free ferry to Governors Island. I grabbed a seat on the upper level of the ferry so that I could enjoy the view on the brief ride across the East River. Once I disembarked, I walked up a short hill, passed a café and picked up a map of the island.
I started my adventure with a stop at the visitors’ center in Building 20. Two videos were playing, one about di Suvero’s work that is narrated by the artist and the other about Storm King Art Center, which sponsored the show. In fact, it is the inaugural off site exhibition for Storm King, the 500-acre sculpture park in Mountainville, New York. After I picked up two-for-one passes to Storm King at the visitors’ center, the staff informed me that I could download a Storm King app as a guide for viewing the show.
Marco Polo “Mark” di Suvero was born in Shanghai, China in 1933 to Italian expatriates and his family immigrated to the U.S. in 1941. He settled in San Francisco and was a housepainter and boat builder before he received his B.A. in Philosophy at U.C. Berkeley in 1956. As a student, he became interested in art, particularly sculpture. He moved to New York City in 1957 when Abstract Expressionism was flourishing. While he was working in construction, he had an accident in a freight elevator and during rehabilitation, he turned his attention to sculpture and learned to work with an arc welder because it was difficult for him to work with wood after the accident. His early works were made of railroad ties, scrap metal, tires and structural steel. He protested the Vietnam War in the 1960s and used the peace sign in several sculptures. Since the late 1960s, his primary medium has been steel, which he transforms into powerful, whimsical and riveting forms and frequently incorporates a kinetic element into his works as well. He moved to Europe in the early 1970s for four years and in 1975, he was the first living artist to have an exhibition in the Jardins des Tuileries. He also had a widely acclaimed retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in the mid-1970s. In 1976, seven of his works were installed at Storm King and in the 1980s, he was a founder of the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens. He has studios in New York, California and France and is married to Kate Levin, who is Mayor Bloomberg’s commissioner of cultural affairs.
The exhibition on Governors Island is di Suvero’s biggest survey in New York since 1975. I had viewed his sculptures several years ago at Storm King, which is a completely different environment than Governors Island. Instead of manicured and open spaces at Storm King, the context for di Suvero’s works on Governors Island includes buildings slated for demolition and small plots of weed-choked lawns. However, it was a joy to experience the sculptures in this setting because they connected to the island’s industrial and maritime past and the propinquity of Manhattan.
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| For Chris, 1991 |
The best way to navigate Governors Island is to rent a bike because the sculptures are installed throughout the island. There is also a tram that provides transportation around the island. Outside of the visitors’ center in a grove near the Admiral’s House called Nolan Park, I encountered the first three works. Fruit Loops (2003) was on loan from the Agnes Gund Collection. The key to viewing di Suvero’s pieces is to walk around them because their spatial dynamics change when observed from different perspectives. Fruit Loops was a perfect example because it opened itself up to me when I stood directly in front of it, yet when I moved to view it in profile, it became a curvy, fluid steel composition. I heard a distant bell and when I looked through the trees, I saw For Chris (1991), which captivated me not only because of its audio component but also by the way that it playfully invited the viewer to bring the sculpture to life by ringing the bell with the long yellow rope. The movement of the rope swinging back and forth added to the whimsy of the piece. The sculpture was named in memory of the artist Chris Wilmarth. The third work in this area was New Beginning (2002), a steel and stainless steel piece from a private collection, was one of the least engaging sculptures in this show.
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| Old Buddy (For Rosko), 1993-95 |
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| Po-um (Lyric), 2003 |
I then walked over towards Fort Jay and the Parade Ground. The first piece that I encountered was a tomato red, vertical composition of intersecting steel I-beams called Tamimiami (2010). It was impossible to ignore the three bands that were playing in the distance on the Parade Ground. Old Buddy (for Rosko) (1993-95) was used that day as a backdrop for one of these bands in the Punk Festival. The work was dedicated to di Suvero’s departed dog. The band provided its own audio element in experiencing this sculpture and I had to walk behind the stage to fully view the work. From this angle, the horizontal, silver I-beam that connected the two vertical end components was like an arm that was reaching out to Manhattan in the distance to link the two islands. One of my favorite pieces in the show, Po-um (Lyric) (2003), was nearby at the top of a hill. It was an example of di Suvero using brushed stainless steel to draw in space. Suspended on a pedestal, the abstract curving sculpture gently rocked back and forth in the wind. Before leaving this area, I stopped by the trapeze school at the opposite end of the Parade Ground to take a quick look even though I had no desire to sign up for a lesson.
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| Rust Angel, 1995 |
I looked at the map and got on my bike to go see Rust Angel (1995) near the promenade before heading to the southern tip of the island to view the four remaining pieces. This sculpture was mounted on a wood platform that children were fond of sitting on when I viewed it. It was installed by itself in a shaded plot of grass near the water. With its modest scale, red color and prow-like beam, it reaches out to the viewer as well as to the tip of Manhattan in the distance. The piece embraced me from one perspective and shut me out on another side. The beam also reminded me of a sailor’s telescope and Fort Jay’s cannons. It was the ideal setting for this work.
It was time to cycle to Picnic Point and take a break. As I rode along the promenade, I passed the circular fortification of Castle Williams, another band playing in an alcove of a brick building and former Coast Guard housing that will be torn down. Five minutes later, I arrived at the southern end of the island and selected a shady spot to have a sandwich while I viewed three monumental and powerful sculptures with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop. As I sat there, I became aware of how di Suvero’s beams were reflected in the shipping port’s cranes in New Jersey and South Brooklyn and Lady Liberty’s arm. The curvature of the bike path around Picnic Point, the arches of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and the prow of a passing cruise ship mirrored forms that I had just seen in Rust Angel. The child’s kite that was swirling above me and the sailboats made me think of Po-um (Lyric) and their mutual reliance on the wind to come alive.
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| Figolu, 2005 |
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| Shadow of Figolu |
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| Will, 1994 |
I began the final section of the show with Figolu (2005-11), which was on loan from a private collection. The combination of red steel arms reaching towards the sky and three sea buoys suspended in a cluster above the viewer resulted in the most dramatic piece on the island. The dent in one of the buoys added to the allure of the work. Even though it was hard to look away from the soaring virtuosity of the beams, I found myself drawn to the marvelous shadow on the grass that the piece created. It reminded me of the Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline’s work, as I have often thought of di Suvero’s sculptures as 3-D versions of Kline’s paintings. Since AbEx was at its apogee when di Suvero moved to New York in the late 1950s, he was most likely exposed to the art that was being created here. When I saw the flat horizontal element in the lower part of the middle section, I thought that it could have easily been used as a picnic table. Adjacent to Figolu was another striking piece called Will (1994), which was on loan from the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection in California. The beams framed the Statue of Liberty and the sculpture superbly complemented Figolu with its own powerful ambition to assert itself in this maritime setting. On the other side of Will was Mahatma (1978-79), which was a gift to Storm King from The Edward B. Broida Trust. The parabolic curve and the arched form in the center of the piece reminded me of a pinched boomerang ready to spring from its pedestal. I studied the view of the three sculptures from this perspective because the works were amplified by the wings of the island’s former housing complex and Manhattan’s verticality in the background. The sculptures’ skeletal beams were thus reflected in the architectural context of the city and island.
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| She, 1977-78 |
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| She (Detail) |
The final piece in the exhibition, She (1977-78), was installed on a nearby lawn and was the earliest sculpture in the show. It was on loan from a private collection in New York. The lateral, imposing composition consisted of a swing made out of a tire and wood, a horizontal steel drum in the middle section that rotated when children attempted to play on it and a suspended abstract floral element. The dangling steel flower seemed to initially detract from the rest of the piece. However, after I saw a cargo ship pass by in the harbor, I viewed the piece differently and appreciated how the beam anchoring the flower was like a crane lifting a container onto a ship. This association between object and context was a further exemplification of the unique power of this must-see exhibition.
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