KANSAS CITY.
In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park, the Hall Family Foundation has supported the commission of a major work by Kansas City native and internationally renowned artist Robert Morris. His Glass Labyrinth is a brilliant, interactive addition that now occupies a prominent site in the south section of the park.
Best known as a sculptor, Morris has also been active as a painter, draftsman, print-maker, performer, choreographer, conceptual, installation and video artist, and writer. Growing up in Kansas City in the 1930s and 40s, Morris visited the Nelson-Atkins to draw and study art from many cultures.
In spirit, Glass Labyrinth acknowledges similar prehistoric markings on stones and cave walls, ancient Greek myths, and Christian metaphors for pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem. Thus, it transcends time and space to remind us of the power of deeply felt archetypes. In form and material, however, this labyrinth is a departure from the more familiar circular and rectangular labyrinths of old. Triangulated and constructed of glass plate walls capped with bronze, it speaks to this moment in the language of modern architecture and design–streamlined, dynamic, transparent, and elegant.
Photos: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
