On the hillside of Crouse College
November 5, 2004

"SIX CURVED WALLS (SYRACUSE)," an installation by internationally acclaimed conceptual artist Sol LeWitt ’49, has been constructed on the hillside of Crouse College in honor of the inauguration of Chancellor Nancy Cantor. The installation consists of a series of six undulating walls, each 12 feet high and measuring a total length of 140 feet.

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.

This will be the third 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.

Selections from the installation can be found in the Multimedia/Gallery section.