Baltimore Federal
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
George Sugarman wrote this description of the artwork that he created for the federal plaza in Baltimore:
"My sculpture, called simply Baltimore Federal, represents the coming together of many of my ideas in art. From a formal point of view, it is the culmination of many years of working with the concept of field sculpture—sculpture that extends itself into space rather than concentrating as a single object. The piece exemplifies my interest in the strength of internal and external forms—sometime the interior is vibrant and expressice, at other times the exterior shell-form alone displays the nature of both the inside and outside of the work.
"Formal aesthetic ideas provide the essential structure of valid art, but one must also deal with art's expressive values—more specifically its context. Baltimore Federal was not created for a gallery or museum but for a large public space. I wanted to make an abstract sculpture that would express the relationship between the public and a government facility.
"If it is possible for an abstract sculpture to be symbolic, then Baltimore Federal is symbolic. The openness and accessibility of the forms and the variety of experiences they allow and needing no special knowledge to understand this work of art are concepts which I feel are vital to public-government interaction. As the city continues to live with Baltimore Federal, I am sure other ideas, feelings and interpretations will develop."
