Pyramidian By Leah Goldberg Julia Kunze Katie Ross

Pyramidian By Leah Goldberg, Julia Kunze, Katie Ross, Andie Abrams, and Nell Tercek

Mark Di Suvero was born in 1933 to an Italian family in China. As he grew older, he traveled all the way to California and ended up staying there for his youth. Once he moved to New York City, he became greatly interested in sculpting, for he was surrounded by it all the time. He has a countless amount of sculptures roaming from the United States all the way to international settings such as Germany and The United Kingdom. To this day, he has a passion for his artwork and loves creating new things. Andie Abrams

The sculpture we studied, “Pyramidian”, took a total of 11 years to create. After designing the sculpture, he decided on a basic material of steel. There are many other names that this piece of art could have been called to give the same effect. It could have been named something such as “ The Crane, ” “ The Skyscraper, ” or even “The Sun Dial” but instead he used “Pyramidian” to give his sculpture a name that also hints at past. Andie Abrams

There are multiple connections to the ancient world incorporated throughout the sculpture including a sundial-like shadow, the title, and the pyramid shape. Pyramidian is built on a hill, which makes the shadow revolve around it as the sun rises and sets, creating a sundial. There are many elements of the modern world included as well, consisting of indented construction-like steel, a hanging bar in the middle similar to a crane, and the calculated angles. Leah Goldberg and Julia Kunze

When entering Storm King, Pyramidian is one of the first sculptures seen, both because of its placement on the aforementioned hill and its immense size. It is in a field surrounded by Suvero’s work, yet it is the most prominent. Leah Goldberg and Julia Kunze

Pyramidian is made out of steel, rather than glass or stone, to further enhance the industrial feel of the sculpture. It is rusted since it is outside, which enforces a theory of reaching limits which is demonstrated throughout the piece. Leah Goldberg and Julia Kunze

Suvero used large, indented, steel which gave the sculpture a very industrial look. The beams looked like building materials from a skyscraper. In modern times the skeleton of a skyscraper is a common sight. Katie Ross

Suvero also decided to include a hanging horizontal beam under the vertex of Pyramidian. It is being held in place by a thick metal wire. Katie Ross

Unlike true pyramids, Pyramidian is open. Viewers are encouraged to move through the piece, capturing its full effect from every angle. In ancient times, pyramids were built as fully enclosed tombs. Perhaps this is to imitate facets of the modern world, like being more open and less secretive. The surrounding environment only adds to the effect of Mark di Suvero’s Pyramidian. The placement and materials enhance the industrial feel and truly connect the modern world to that of the ancient world in a simple, rusted structure. Leah Goldberg and Julia Kunze

This sculpture incorporates two specific details that help create an industrial and familiar feel to it. One is the long horizontal beam being held up by two thick wires; it almost seems like they are in the middle of creating a skyscraper, being brought up higher and higher as they continue to build. The second detail is the cluster of circular structures at the very top of the pyramid shape (one center circle around center of the hanging horizontal beam, then directly above that, a larger set of circles surrounding the vertex of the beams). The circles and beams are bringing two worlds together, like an ancient pyramid filled world an industrial, modern sky scraper filled world. Nell Tercek

The indented, industrial, steel and the pyramidic format of the art can be compared to the modern skyscrapers and the ancient pyramids of Egypt. Katie Ross

Suvero seems interested in exploring the idea of the climax of civilizations; they cannot remain in golden ages forever. Therefore, one day the advancement of our civilization will terminate like the Egyptians and the magnificent skyscrapers will be left as the evidence of our success and existence. Katie Ross