Installing the fountain at the Aldrich. (via NewsTimes)
In the NY Times today, Susan Hodara writes about James Grashow’s poignant cardboard fountain installed on the front terrace of the Aldrich Museum. Apparently Grashow got the idea for the fountain after his dealer, Allan Stone, died.
“The 25-by-17-foot fountain is the latest production in Mr. Grashow’s nearly five-decade-long career as both a cardboard sculptor and woodcutter (one of his early designs was the memorable cover of Jethro Tull’s ‘Stand Up’ album from 1969). The idea for the fountain’s public demise was hatched in Purchase, N.Y., where shortly before his death in December 2006, Allan Stone, Mr. Grashow’s longtime dealer, tied several of Mr. Grashow’s larger-than-life figures to a tree in his yard.
“While paying a condolence call to the family, Mr. Grashow, who lives with his wife, Lesley Grashow, in Redding, saw his sodden sculptures. ‘They had deteriorated unbelievably,’he said. ‘They looked so melancholy and so beautiful, like cabbages going to seed.’
“James Grashow: Corrugated Fountain,” Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT. Through May 13. NOTE: “Brown Bag Tour With Artist James Grashow,” on April 11, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sharon Butler
