In this piece titled Minus Object, on view at The Mount (home and estate of author Edith Wharton) in 2024, a thin black line continuously traces through space. It references monolithic works by 1960’s minimalist sculptors: in completely still air, it reads as single, rectangular block. But rather than being a singular object, it is composed of 338 thin, vertical lines. It is a reduction of a solid to a minimal, and simultaneously maximal, arrangement of material in space. From a distance, it dematerializes and melts into its surroundings, becoming barely a ghosted outline of a form. It appears as a blur in the landscape. An apparition. In even the lightest breeze, it gently sways, so that it has no fixed shape. In heavier wind, the vertical strands strike against each other, with an audible clatter.

The sculpture is made of carbon fiber and weighs less than 15 pounds. The base plate is made of carbon fiber fabric, impregnated with a bio-based epoxy resin, which was vacuum formed over a mold that was machined on a computer-controlled CNC router. It has a grid of bumps, that increase in height toward the center of the panel.

The vertical strands were made by stringing carbon fiber yarn between the peaks of the 169 bumps on the base and temporary anchor points above it. The yarn was triple strung, to achieve the required thickness, and was applied in one continuous, unbroken length over a mile long. Where the strands connect to the base, and touch the sky, they converge for additional strength.

Currently on exhibit at The Mount, Lenox, MA through October 20, 2024.

This piece is available for purchase.