New Puryear for the Getty - Getty Center; exhibition of work by Martin Puryear, sculptor

Art in America, Jan, 2000 by Michael Duncan

Continuing to commission contemporary art for its public spaces, the Getty Center in Los Angeles recently installed a 45-foot-tall bronze and stainless-steel sculpture by Martin Puryear just west of the tram stop on the complex's central plaza. The project follows inaugural commissions by Ed Ruscha for the auditorium lobby and Alexis Smith for the center's restaurant. Titled That Profile, Puryear's gridded, tubular sculpture is shaped like a human head tilted up to face the Pacific Ocean--seeming to take its cue from the hordes of Getty visitors around it.

Structurally similar to earlier Puryear works that evoke hunting traps or lacrosse mitts, That Profile resembles a huge-scale, flat-fronted version of earlier geometric wire-head sculptures by Alexander Calder. It complements the curves and angles of Richard Meier's architecture without obtruding on the mountaintop views to the north.

A small concurrent exhibition [through Jan. 9], curated by project consultant Lisa Lyons, includes two Puryear sculptures, several works on paper, a project maquette and photographs by Lynn Davis of the project in process.