The Lightning Field

About this book

A profoundly timely and moving personal essay by one of Americas leading art critics Walter De Marias Lightning Field (1977) is one of the 20th centurys most significant works of art. Situated in a remote area of desert in southwestern New Mexico it comprises 400 polished stainless-steel poles (spaced 220 feet apart) installed in a grid measuring one mile by one kilometer. A sculpture to be explored on foot The Lightning Field is intended to be experienced over an extended period of time. Critic Kenneth Baker visited The Lightning Field numerous times over the course of the past 30 years in order to write this text. Inspired and challenged by this remarkable artwork Baker speculates on the course of our contemporary human condition. But rather than building on ideas in narrative sequence he deploys quotation to effect multiple perspectives and points of view. Bakers citations and elegantly crafted prose are arrayedin a metaphorical parallel to De Marias choreographing of the vast landscape of the American Southwestto create a compelling text.