Scale
SCALE by Steven Siegel
The winter of 06-07 finally brought down “Scale” and the remanents of the sculpture will be removed soon.
In the fall of 2002, artist Steven Siegel left behind his largest sculpture in North America at Abington Art Center. Made up of more than 20,000 pounds of recycled newspaper, the piece appears to be made of stone, echoing the piled strata from the natural world. As the years have passed, the piece has begun to degrade, offering prime real-estate to microbes, fungi and flora.
To the casual observer, the sculpture served as a reminder of the natural cycle. The only difference between Siegel’s sculpture and a tree falling in the woods to decompose is that this ten ton “tree-replacement” first was harvested, shredded, pulped, rolled, cut, printed and thrown away before making it back to the forest to degrade.
Renowned for his elegant site-specific installations of recycled materials, Steven Siegel came from Redhook, NY to Abington Art Center to work on a new site specific sculpture for AAC’s Sculpture Park. His work reflects on the interface between culture and nature and raises issues of ecology, geology, land use and the human impact on the environment. Siegel’s other work can be found in Italy, Denmark, England and across the United States.
If you visit during gallery hours, there is a free audio tour available. This tour will give you a description of the sculpture and its site, offering details on the artist, the concept and the construction. Just ask the receptionist at the front desk.
Construction process
Day 3
Day 3
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 8
Look at what the cycles of nature have done over time.
October 2006
October 2006
December 2006
December 2006
