LeWitt to unveil inaugural installation at Crouse College
Passers-by on Irving Avenue and Syracuse University students, faculty and staff are seeing a significant change in the campus scenery. Internationally acclaimed conceptual artist Sol LeWitt '49 is donating one of his most spectacular installations to SU in honor of the inauguration of the University's 11th Chancellor, Nancy Cantor. This yet-untitled installation, stretching 140 feet across the hill in front of Crouse College, consists of a series of six undulating walls, each 12 feet high. The assemblage is constructed of cinderblocks, a material chosen by LeWitt to illustrate that something ordinary can be made heroic. Work on the footings took place Oct. 8-15, and the installation will be erected from Oct. 18-26 to be completed in time for Cantor's Nov. 5 inauguration.
On Nov. 5, Cantor's formal inauguration will take place during a free, public ceremony at the Carrier Dome, beginning at 10:30 a.m. and followed by a boxed lunch on the turf. To help organizers plan for the luncheon, those who wish to attend are asked to RSVP by visiting http://soulofsyracuse.syr.edu/register. In the afternoon, the University will host a free, public inaugural symposium titled "Universities and Moral Responsibility: Respecting Humanity at Home and Abroad" (http://soulofsyracuse.syr.edu/symposium/), which will bring together community members, SU faculty and other leading intellectuals in the Schine Student Center's Goldstein Auditorium from 1:30-5:30 p.m. The symposium will be further intensified by the work of LeWitt and other artists including Roger Shimomura G'69, Bill Viola '73, Carrie Mae Weems and Lonnie Graham (see http://soulofsyracuse.syr.edu/symposium/exhibitions.html).
This will be the third and most impressive piece of public art LeWitt has donated in Syracuse. He has also donated a sculpture, which stands in front of the James M. Hanley Federal Building downtown, and a wall drawing located at the Light Work/Community Darkrooms facility on the SU campus.
LeWitt is well known for printmaking and wall drawings, but is mainly known as a sculptor. As a conceptual artist, he focuses on the idea behind each piece more than the finished product itself. "When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair," he says. "The idea becomes the machine that makes the art."
Born in 1928, LeWitt earned his B.F.A. from SU in 1949. He began exhibiting his art in New York City in the 1960s. Since then, he has been featured in museums and galleries around the world. Various museums have exhibited retrospectives of his work, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum in New York City, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.