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Force One: Conciousness is Crucial by John Paul Rietta
Photo CreditGSA\Nancy Wilkenson
Force One: Conciousness is Crucial
Photo CreditGSA\Nancy Wilkenson

Force One: Conciousness is Crucial

Artist
Year1976
Classification sculpture
Medium cor-ten steel
Dimensions30 x 13 x 13 ft. (914.4 x 396.2 x 396.2 cm)
Credits Commissioned through the Art in Architecture Program
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
Location


  • Rietta's sculpture consists of two perpendicular elements composed of unpainted self-oxidizing steel plates measuring 30' x 13' x 12'.  The color unifies the sculpture with the bricks of the building and the trunks of the surrounding trees.  The two vertical elements complement each other, both moving in a curved fashion with a strong upward thrust.  The forms resemble the motion of flight and although they are physically heavy, they appear weightless and work together to form the union of the whole.  Rietta said of the piece, "The sculpture should be an accent or variation to the building so that the viewer could relate the sculpture to the building and to the site as if the piece of sculpture evolved from the ground as the building evolves from the plaza."