While Richard Serra makes helluva convincing grounds for experiencing sculpture in confined spaces, the stupendously vast 500-acres of lush woodlands, grassy fields and rolling hills that serve as stage for the 100 or so mostly modern sculptures of the Storm King Art Center make for a satisfying argument that three-dimensional works need space to be.
We spent the better part of a vibrant Sunday taking in the collection–including Serra's "Schunnemunk Fork," four enormous plates of eroding steel jutting from mounds on a 10-acre corner of the grounds. We walked between Maya Lin's massive "waves" of grass-covered ridges, carefully man-made to resemble the grand scale of oceans waves; and sprawled under a couple of Mark di Suvero's monstrous structures, barely able to take in the feat of engineering and art under the blue sky. The 2,278-foot ribbon of stones, found around the property and stacked without mortar by the British artist Andy Goldsworthy, is poetry.
The literature on this place likes to tout that it's a museum without walls. Not a bad way for all art should to be considered.
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