Mark di Suvero, “Clock Knot”

Mark di Suvero, Clock Knot, 2007.

American, born in China 1933

Mark di Suvero is one of the most important sculptors of his generation. As a student, he was deeply engaged in studying and writing poetry and was attuned to music, from Bach to jazz. Once he began to pursue sculpture, di Suvero found an outlet for his explorations in other fields that intrigued him, including architecture, mathematics, science, engineering, poetry, and languages.

Grounded in abstract expressionism, which emphasizes the direct expression of emotion through line and color, di Suvero was energized by the spaces of New York City, especially those being torn down for “urban renewal.” From the refuse, he pioneered a new form of sculpture in which wooden beams chained together in outward-leaning constructions declared the physical forces that held them in check. The works engage space in an unprecedented manner, and this focus on space has remained a central goal throughout di Suvero's career. In 1967 he began to build large-scale sculptures with a crane, using steel I-beams and other industrial materials. Learning to use a crane offered di Suvero a new mode of working, but it was one in which the process of composing the sculpture remained at the core of his artistic practice.

The heroic sculpture Clock Knot exemplifies the power of art to transform public locations. Walking around the work produces constantly changing views, and moving under it offers another experience of the sculpture and its space. The crossed I-beams and circular “knotted” center of Clock Knot suggest a giant clock face with a horizontal “hand” extending to the left. But as one moves around the sculpture, what had been read as a vertical beam shows itself to be one leg of an inverted V-form. Is it a clock or not/knot? Clock Knot is a work of poetry and power. As visitors pass through its space looking at the sky and feeling the exuberant lift of the sculpture, their imaginations will play with its visual and verbal suggestions.

Location: Berm between CPE and ETC

GPS: 30.289671,-97.736162