Dear Readers: Kindly accept my apologies for removing the images of The Wall at Storm King.  This was done in accordance with a request from the Storm King Art Center whose policy (attributed to the demands of copyright) is to limit the unauthorized reproduction of works on the premises of the Art Center. It is this writer's contention that as long as the reproductions are of such limited quality (as, truly, these were), that no commercial purpose can be served by their reproduction, the ultimate educational mission of such an institution is ill served. Undoubtedly, the reproductions, and the links accompanying them, can only help enhance the public's knowledge of works such as these and to increase their notoriety. I think it unfortunate that the power written into the current copyright code is being used to reduce public exposure to vital works, and to serve to transform our society to what has been called a culture of "permission" from one of free access. Having to secure permission for patently educational and non-profit, non-commercial uses is just plain bad for culture.

That said, it might be worthwhile at this point to think a bit about the meaning of Goldworthy's Wall. In many respects -- most obviously in its lack of finish -- it differs little from the kind of rustic wall once commonly build across fields in New York State. It is singularly unexceptional (purposefully so, in my opinion) in the structure of its stone masonry. Its plainness better helps the viewer ponder the purpose of the wall. Goldworthy's wall meanders in and out of a naturally haphazard forest, sometimes separating field from forest and sometimes not. Its purpose, I propose, is not to demarcate what is on one side of the wall from what is on the other, but to do just the opposite, to show by virtue of arbitrary divisions the unity of nature. It does this by creating an intentionally false dichotomy, better to bring focus to an unperceived unity. Indeed, the wall is distinctly unlike any other wall, as may be surmised by its meander and by its passage into and through a small lake -- where it is mostly under water. It serves to  unify rather than to separate.

Its purpose, not wholly dissimilar to many Goldsworthy works, is to use man's need to structure nature to focus attention on the beauty of nature unstructured. If there is an aesthetic intent in the wall it is in the very denial of the innate function of walls.

Who can find

the

turtle?