for Smithson (2010) — steve locke

for Smithson (2010)

Installation view of for Smithson

Part of PEOPLE WATCHING-Then and Now at Fitchburg Art Museum, September 24, 2017 – January 14, 2018

Installation view of for Smithson

Part of PEOPLE WATCHING-Then and Now at Fitchburg Art Museum, September 24, 2017 – January 14, 2018

detail of for Smithson

Part of PEOPLE WATCHING-Then and Now at Fitchburg Art Museum, September 24, 2017 – January 14, 2018

"A great artist can create art by casting a glance. A set of glances can be as solid as any thing or any place." - Robert Smithson

100 drawings in sumi ink on hot pressed paper, each drawing 10 x 10 inches
installation size 120 x 120 inches.

for Smithson was show as part of PEOPLE WATCHING-Then and Now at the Fitchburg Art Museum, September 24, 2017 – January 14, 2018. A catalog of the show can be seen here.

Watching as Subject, in particular, is featured as an overarching framework for the exhibition. The terms looking and watching or other synonyms like gazing, observing, or seeing each imply subtle differences. Does a glance fix someone as equally as a gaze? Does the glance more readily define the current moment than the gaze of earlier eras? The way that we see and think about seeing, then and now, is an integral part of the conversation that is spun in FAM’s exhibition People Watching. For example, Boston-based artist Steve Locke’s for Smithson (2011) is composed of 100 portraits of anonymous men. Each documents a glance of a passerby.

Lisa Crossman, Ph.D.
Curator, Fitchburg Art Museum