Mark di Suvero
(Shanghai, China, 1933 - )
American
Since the early 1970s, Mark di Suvero's mammoth constructions of cut and welded steel, recycled timbers and industrial castoffs have become familiar fixtures on the urban landscape. Unlike much large-scale public sculpture, however, di Suvero’s works are not lofty memorials or emblems of civic pride. Instead, using materials and production techniques familiar to tradesmen, mechanics, and factory workers, di Suvero strives to make "the kind of art that joins technology to people's knowledge." Di Suvero made his first sculptures as a philosophy student at the University of California Santa Barbara, later moving to New York City in 1957 to pursue a career as an artist. Part-time jobs in construction gave him access to scrap wood and metal from demolition sites, shaping the trajectory of his work. The crane has become a signature tool for the artist, who refers to it as his “paintbrush.” Most of his sculpture could not have been realized without the use of cranes, forklift trucks, and welding torches—tools indigenous to the building trades but less common among the traditional fine arts.
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