Some sculptures around the Empire State Plaza Complex are being restored by the Office of General Services. One of the sculptures receiving a rework is also finally receiving a name after 56 years.
Outside one of the agency buildings in Downtown Albany, a sculpture faces Madison Avenue. This artwork, had remained untitled since its creation in 1969. Now, 56 years after its creation, its sculptor Forrest Myers stands in front of the reinstalled artwork with a name for it. Dices. Myers says he chose this name because of the way the cubes are placed.
"The name is a bit random and obvious. I title my pieces so I remember which ones they were, and this one didn't have a title," said Myers. "So, I was looking at it, and I just thought, 'Oh, it looks like dice tumbling on a on a crap table.' And so, it became dice.”
Dices, which is made of stainless steel and Cor Ten, consists of two large cubes. One of them lays perfectly flat on the ground while the other only touches the ground on one point of its cube. Joseph Madeira is the director of curatorial and visitor services for the Office of General Services, the office behind the restoration project. For him, the sculpture is fun and engaging for anyone passing by.
“My favorite part is that those cubes that are interlocking are actually square cubes. But as you walk around the sculpture, it looks like the interior is bent, or perhaps somehow oblique, and it's an optical illusion." said Madeira. "And so, what's happening as you walk around it? You're seeing the different lines juxtaposed differently.”
Dices was part of a collection of artworks commissioned for the Empire State Plaza Art Collection by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller in the 60s. At the time, Myers was an up-and-coming sculptor living in New York City where he would then go on to find a cooperative art gallery called, “Park Place Gallery” known for its emphasis on geometrical shape, sculpture, and experimental art. He says this commission could not have come at a better time.
"It was a great thing to have someone commission a sculpture this size for a young sculptor, because I couldn't have afforded this myself.” said Myers.
He also likes the fact that the sculpture is accessible to anybody.
“I was here when they set it up, and I remember coming by this road, you know, 40 years later, and seeing that, you can see the sculpture from the road, and that was nice.” said Myers.
Madeira adds that this was done on purpose.
“I mean, this is a world class collection, and it's relatively unknown, and it's free to the public. And that was Rockefeller's vision, was to have something that's free and accessible to everyone." said Madeira. "And I think you would pay top dollar in New York City to see many of these artists in a museum, but you can come here and see them anytime”
