Exhibition dates: May 4 – October 31, 2004
Exhibition location: The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden
Press preview: Monday, May 3, 10:00 a.m. – noon
British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy (born 1956), known for working in, and with, the natural landscape, has been invited by The Metropolitan Museum of Art to create the sculpture installation for The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, opening to the public on May 4, 2004. Andy Goldsworthy on the Roof will consist of two monumental, organic domes of wood and stone, inspired by the immediate surroundings of Central Park and its architectural setting. This special project will be exhibited in the 10,000-square-foot open-air space that offers spectacular views across Central Park to the Manhattan skyline. This is one in a series of solo-artist installations presented on the Cantor Roof Garden, and the first to be constructed on site by the artist.
The installation is made possible by a grant from Cynthia Hazen Polsky, Leon B. Polsky and the Lita A. Hazen Charitable Trust.
Goldsworthy will construct two 13-1/2-foot-tall columns of balanced stones, each surrounded by an octagonal dome – 18 feet in height and 24 feet in diameter – of hardwood split rails. Made from materials gleaned in rural landscapes, the sculpture, Stone Houses, will invite viewers to peer through the wood domes to see the stacked, tapered stone spires sheltered within. The granite stones, the largest of which weighs one-and-a-half tons, are from the beaches of Glenluce in Luce Bay, southern Scotland, and the split rails of northern white cedar come from New England agricultural sources.
Stone Houses, which the artist intends will "command the space" of the Roof Garden, is envisioned as "an exploration of the relationship between stone and wood... [with] stone the more fragile partner – protected by the [guardian wood rails] – just as trees often hold together and protect the landscape in which they grow." Inherent in these seemingly simple forms are the implicit power, beauty, mystery, and elemental aspects of nature, marked by the passage of time and by human contact.
Born in Cheshire, England, Goldsworthy studied fine art at the Bradford College of Art (1974-75) in Yorkshire and at Preston Polytechnic in Lancashire (1975-78), where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. He worked as a farm laborer outside Leeds from the age of 13 and made his first constructions in stone in the late 1970s. He has worked in and of the land for the past 25 years, creating sculpture – much of it ephemeral – from such found materials as wood, stone, snow, ice, reeds, leaves, flowers, sand, and mud.
Permanent sculptures by Goldsworthy in the United States include Storm King Wall, 1997-98, at the Storm King Art Center (Mountainville, NY); Stone River, 2001, at Stanford University (Stanford, CA); Three Cairns, 2001- 2002, at the Neuberger Museum of Art (Purchase, NY), the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and the Des Moines Art Center; and Garden of Stones, 2003, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage (New York, NY).
Goldsworthy has produced numerous site-specific works and commissions in the
United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Asia; has had solo museum exhibitions in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Japan; and is the subject of a documentary film, Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time, which was released in 2001.
Recording the ephemeral works in photographs is an important part of Goldsworthy's process. Eight books on his work have been published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.; among them are Hand to Earth: Andy Goldsworthy Sculpture, 1976-1990 (1990), Andy Goldsworthy: A Collaboration with Nature (1990), Stone/Andy Goldsworthy (1994), Wood/Andy Goldsworthy (1996), Wall (2000), and Time (2000).
The exhibition is accompanied by a brochure and related educational programs, including a lecture by Goldsworthy, "Within Nature," on Saturday, May 1, 2004, at 2:00 p.m. (sold out, limited standing room available), and screenings of the documentary film Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time.
Andy Goldworthy on the Roof is organized by Anne L. Strauss, Assistant Curator in the Department of Modern Art of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden opened to the public in 1987. Annual
installations have featured selections of modern sculpture from the Museum's collection and, more recently, presentations of works by the artists Ellsworth Kelly (1998), Magdalena Abakanowicz (1999), David Smith (2000), Joel Shapiro (2001), Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen (2002), and Roy Lichtenstein (2003).
The Cantor Roof Garden is open to the public from May through late fall, as weather permits. Sandwiches and beverage service – including espresso, cappuccino, iced tea, soft drinks, wine and beer – are available at the Roof Garden daily from 10:00 a.m. until closing.
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