Artwork Details
- Title
- The Wedges
- Artist
- Robert Morris (1931 – 2018)
- Year
- 1970; installed 1985
- Location
- Kelly and Sedgely Drives
- Medium
- Painted weathering steel
- Dimensions
- Height 4’6″; width 20′; depth 20′
Artwork Description
Standing in mysterious convocation, the eight wedges form a rounded square on the grass near Kelly Drive. The artist, Robert Morris, has always been interested in problems of perception and is widely known for his “earthworks,” as well as for his involvement in the conceptualist and minimalist movements.
After exhibition at London’s Tate Gallery in 1972, The Wedges was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. H. Gates Lloyd, who donated the sculpture to Association for Public Art (then known as Fairmount Park Art Association) in 1984. It was installed along Kelly Drive in 1985. Four curved pieces of steel form the corners of the square; four smaller straight pieces fill in the sides. From certain angles the work seems to float on the landscape, and the interior presents a mysterious locus from which the surrounding environment emanates.
Adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).
Artwork Credits
Acquired by Association for Public Art (formerly Fairmount Park Art Association), gift of Mr. and Mrs. H. Gates Lloyd
Owned by the Association for Public Art
Artwork Media
Museum Without Walls
Voices:
ROBERT MORRIS (1931-2018) was an American sculptor, conceptual artist, writer, and an exponent of Minimalist Art.
NENA TSOUTI-SCHILLINGER is an art historian and the author of the book Robert Morris and Angst.
Segment Producer: Lu Olkowski