In his most recent sculpture, installed at the edge of Buffalo’s historic Larkin District, Reitzenstein has eschewed the natural object in favor of making an industrial object more natural. The concise gesture of an electrical tower curving back into the earth immediately evokes the sense of an entity with an organic inner life, an icon of the civilized world apparently aspiring to reacquaint itself with the actual earth from which it originated. There is a strange quality of humility in the world, industry acknowledging its relationship to nature, but it is also strikingly dynamic, pimped out with red paint as though to reaffirm the pulse of life.

On view at the corner of Smith and Exchange streets in Buffalo’s Larkin District

To hear the artist’s audio statement, click the audio player below:

Installation View:

Photo: Biff Henrich