For 17 years a 23-foot-high sculpture, constructed of cinder block, created by a world renowned artist stood on Ohio State’s campus.
Suddenly in mid-October, it was gone.
The walkway next to the Wexner Center for the Arts going toward College Road is now newly paved with no traces of the art piece.
Appropriately titled “Tower” by artist Sol LeWitt, the sculpture was at its location next to the Wexner Center since 1990, said Erik Pepple, media relations coordinator for the Wexner Center.
The sculpture was on a long-term loan from the Ovitz Family Collection in California, which purchased the piece before LeWitt’s death this past April. The sculpture was returned to the family after being taken down.
LeWitt was an American artist thought to have helped establish conceptualism and minimalism. His early sculptures were chaste white cubes and gray cement blocks, much like the piece that was at OSU. His later work included geometric paintings and photographic self-portraits.
Lewitt’s art has been exhibited at Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and many other places throughout the world.
“Tower was commissioned by the Wexner Center for the exhibition ‘New Works for New Spaces,’ a year after the center’s opening,” Pepple said.
The sculpture was intended to both complement and counter the Wexner Center’s architecture and “has since served as a landmark public art piece on the university campus,” Pepple said.
However, despite its long-term presence, some students seemed to be unaffected by the newly unoccupied space.
“I never really knew it was there. It would have been nice to know about it and who the artist was,” said Terita Parms, a sophomore in theatre education.
Other students feel differently.
“I think it’s neat to have art on campus and I hope they’ll put something in its place,” said Jennifer Rinehart, a junior in psychology.
There are currently no plans to put something in its place, but its legacy will live on as it will be reconstructed at the home of its new owner next year, Pepple said.
Michelle Pineiro can be reached at [email protected].
