Pratt Sculpture Park Curator David Weinrib has installed three sculptures by upstate New York sculptor Leon Smith.
Red Cabinet was made in 2006 of cedar siding. “In New England,” says Smith, “a lot of houses are done of cedar siding, so I decided to do a sculpture out of this common material.”
Triangle was made in 2004 of thin fiberglass rods sitting on two large steel spheres. “The 'drawn' rod triangle becomes a window to the landscape,” says Smith, “and offers a delicate contrast to its solid base.”
Both works can be found in the area of the Pratt Library.
Guardian was made of blue-painted steel in 2003. It stands near Steuben Hall. “It combines a ball and a rectangle to make a connection between these two basic forms,” says Smith.
In general “The opposing qualities of form are what engage me most,” says Smith. “I'm partial to the double take, the paradox, but only if the work's formal qualities can sustain interest and delight over a period of time.”
Smith, a native of Queensland, Australia, has created his own outdoor sculpture park on 200 acres adjacent to his home and studio in Ancramdale, New York in the Upper Hudson Valley. Educated at the University of Sydney, Sydney Art School, and Central St. Martin's College of Art and Design, London, Smith has been a resident of the United States since 1964. His work is known in the upstate New York area and is held in private and public collections across the United States, and in Australia, Israel, Belgium, and Mexico City.
“I want to bring Leon Smith’s work to a broader, urban audience,” Weinrib explained, “so more people can become acquainted with Smith’s strong pieces of modern sculpture, which in my judgment are exemplary.”
Pratt Sculpture Park is regarded as one of the top 10 campus art collections according to Public Art Review (2006).
(L–R) Leon Smith, Red Cabinet, 2006, cedar siding, 4 x 7½ feet; Leon Smith, Triangle, 2004, fiberglass and steel, 21 x 22 x 3 feet
(L–R) Leon Smith, Guardian, 2003, painted steel, 5 ½ x 3 x 2½ feet; Sculpture Park Curator David Weinrib with sculptor Leon Smith
Photos: Diana Pau (Sculptures); Joann Weinrib (Weinrib and Smith)