The five elements of the sculpture have different size and shapes, based on
tetrahedrons and
octahedrons, with faceted surfaces painted with a
semi-gloss black, and are individually named "Crocus", "Dud", "Shaft", "Slide", and "Smohawk". They measure from to in height and weigh from to . Several of the editions are exhibited in public, typically installed outdoors on a grassed area. The elements have no fixed positions, and their relative positions and orientations may vary according to the requirements of the specific location, so each installation is different. The work was first created as a full-size plywood mock-up and then replicated in painted metal. The sculpture may allude to the structure of molecules and crystals, or the
Japanese rock garden of
Ryōan-ji in Kyoto. As Smith described it: "The Rocks were really conceived as one piece, although I didn't think of them as having a fixed spatial relationship to one another. They did, however, have a temporal sequence. I thought of each piece as having an identity but also as a constituting part of a group. In this group, positions were thought of as changing."
Editions The work was created in an edition of five, plus one
artist's proof: •
Wandering Rocks (AP) has been displayed in
Seattle, Washington, since 2007, and is now at the
Olympic Sculpture Park, donated to the
Seattle Art Museum by the
Virginia and
Bagley Wright Collection in 2016 for the museum's 75th anniversary •
Wandering Rocks (1/5) is at
Kykuit - the
John D. Rockefeller Estate - in
Pocantico Hills, New York •
Wandering Rocks (2/5) is at
Lynden Sculpture Garden, in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, donated by the Bradley Family Foundation in 2012 •
Wandering Rocks (3/5) is in a private collection, in
Cleveland, Ohio •
Wandering Rocks (4/5) is at the
National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., having been bought by the
National Gallery of Art in 1981 •
Wandering Rocks (5/5) is at the
Kröller-Müller Museum, at
Otterlo, in the Netherlands. ==See also==