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Untitled [preparatory drawing for a proposal for light sculptures on the construction site of the World Trade Center towers]

Forrest Myers American
1967
Not on view
Untitled is a preparatory study for an unrealized proposal that Myers submitted to David Rockefeller in 1967 for light sculptures that he sought to install on the construction site of the World Trade Center towers. The work consists of a photograph of the site shot at night from a nearby rooftop by the artist's friend, Danny Lyon, over which Myers painted long strokes in white to represent beams of light. The proposal reflects the artist's engagement at the time with light as a medium. Indeed, beginning in 1966, Myers designed what he called "searchlight" sculptures—sculptures made of upward projected light—for neighborhoods in urban areas such as Philadelphia, New York, and Dallas. Around the time he produced this sketch, Myers was associated with both Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT), a collaborative of artists and engineers, as well as the Park Place Group, an artist cooperative that operated in downtown New York and avidly explored connections between science, space, and abstraction. Although he produced work for conventional galleries, Myers also operated actively in public, extra-artistic spaces, epitomizing the turn in the 1960s and 1970s towards "post-studio art."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Untitled [preparatory drawing for a proposal for light sculptures on the construction site of the World Trade Center towers]
  • Artist: Forrest Myers (American, born Long Beach, California 1941)
  • Date: 1967
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print and paint
  • Dimensions: 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
  • Classifications: Photographs, Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Beau R. Ott, 2021
  • Object Number: 2021.382.2
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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Untitled [preparatory drawing for a proposal for light sculptures on the construction site of the World Trade Center towers], Forrest Myers  American, Silver gelatin print and paint
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