Walter De Maria: Trilogies
Description
This volume details the works in American artist Walter De Maria’s (1935–2013) first major museum exhibition in the United States. De Maria was active for over 50 years and is associated with Minimal, conceptual, installation, and land art. In the expansive, Bel Air Trilogy, 2000–11, he combined exacting geometry with the entirely unexpected element of three impeccably restored 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air two-tone hardtops, piercing each with a twelve-foot-long stainless steel rod in the shape of a circle, square, or triangle. The Bel Air Trilogy is joined by the Channel Series, 1972, an austere tripartite sculpture with moveable spheres, and the three monochromatic paintings with engraved steel plates that make up The Statement Series, 1968/2011. Together these trilogies challenge and broaden our understanding of the artist’s work. Includes a never-before-published exhibition history and bibliography.
About the Authors
Josef Helfenstein is director of the Menil Collection. As well as organizing exhibitions at a number of different venues, he has contributed to many publications and recently served as co-editor of Art and Activism: Projects of John and Dominique de Menil (2010) and Klee and America (2006).
Clare Elliott is assistant curator at the Menil Collection. She recently contributed to Imprinting the Divine: Byzantine and Russian Icons from the Menil Collection (2011) and Art and Activism: Projects of John and Dominique de Menil (2010).
