(New Malden, South London, 1924 - 2013, London, England)
1973
Rusted and varnished steel
82 x 72 x 20 1/2 in. (208.3 x 182.9 x 52.1 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of Mary S. and Louis S. Myers
1991.116
Caro, one of the most important British sculptors of the 1960s and 1970s, created a series of sculptures while living in Veduggio, Italy, in 1972 and 1973. A departure from the artist's earlier painted, angular works, the "Veduggio" sculptures incorporate a frontal rather than three-dimensional orientation and are colored by the natural process of rust instead of by pigment. Caro constructed these works from scrap I-beams and rolled steel, then carefully cultivated the rust until it took on a character akin to a rough, gestural painting. With its irregular form and crusty skin, the steel seems an organic rather than an industrial product.