Hear the Curator (y1969-19)
Part of David Smith’s final and most famed series of sculptures, Cubi XIII is made of polished stainless steel to reflect the changing colors of its surroundings. Smith himself said, “I like outdoor sculpture, and the most practical thing for outdoor sculpture is stainless steel, and I make them and I polish them in such a way that on a dull day, they take on a dull blue, or the color of the sky in the late afternoon sun, the glow golden like the rays, the colors of nature.” Smith began to exploit the potential of stainless steel as a medium in the late 1950s. Coming to sculpture as a painter, Smith had little propensity for modeling or carving preliminary models. Instead, he used a welding torch to execute his sculptures directly.
