This catalog documents the construction and unveiling of American artist Martin Puryear's (born 1941) monumental site-specific installation, Lookout, at Storm King Art Center in New Windsor, New York. The 20-foot-tall sculpture is built of layers of red clay bricks laid using thin-shell masonry techniques. Rather than straight lines and vertical walls, however, the work curves inward and upward, opening to allow entry from one side while producing a swelling form on the opposite end. In Lookout, Puryear evokes brickmaking as a once-primary industry in the Hudson Valley and references the vernacular structures that dot the local landscape.
Inside the structure, Puryear uses the work’s form and setting to encourage a heightened sense of presence. The brick surface is punctuated by a constellation of 90 circular openings created by tubes of fiberglass-reinforced concrete in varying sizes. These oculi act as apertures, creating pinhole vignettes of the surrounding trees and sky. The book is complemented by a broader retrospective of Puryear’s work, including a selection of process models and drawings from over 40 years of his public sculptures and installations.
