Leviated Mass and Bear

Traffic in LA? Yeah, but they have good reason. Artist Michael Heizer's Leviated Mass, conceived of in the 60s during the height of the Land Art movement, is finally coming to physical existence. And the transportation of the 340-ton monolithic granite boulder will to be an upcoming cause for a Los Angeles traffic jam. Which is fine by me. I love rocks, and rocks turned to art is even better.

The boulder chosen for Leviated Mass is currently in the process of removal from a quarry in Riverside, CA with artful engineering and technology. You can read and follow the progress of the entire installation, slated to open at LACMA in late Fall of this year. 

There's something obviously primitive about picking up and moving boulders for art or a monument. What I love the most about this in-the-works project is that the artist is keeping the boulder completely in tact, in fact, he took decades to find the perfect boulder for this project. It's like we all have done at one time or another - hiking or walking along the shore, waiting and scouting for that perfect stone or shell. There's something very instinctual in that act. 

Another one of my favorites is the UCSD Stuart Collection's Bear on UCSD's campus by Tim Hawkinson (I love everything he does). To finding the boulders, transporting them, engineering them for earthquake standards, this project always blows me away. 

Image from here.

I'm planning on visiting LACMA this week to see the Tim Burton exhibit before it closes at the end of the month, I wonder if the Leviated Mass home construction site is on view to the public yet?

Enjoy!

J