Vibrant monolith is a ‘rock star’ addition to sculpture garden
Donald Seldin Plaza is becoming an art lover’s mecca with the addition of a new sculpture featuring a tower of boulders in rich, vivid colors. The 13-foot-tall work, dallas mountain, 2023, is the seventh large outdoor piece that has been generously donated to UT Southwestern by Nobel Laureate Joseph L. Goldstein, M.D., Chair of Molecular Genetics.
“This newest addition to Seldin Plaza is an eye-catching vertical stack of five rocks, each with a different shape and weight (200 to 6,200 kg) and each with a different bold color ranging from bright yellow to deep blue. The vibrantly colored rocks seem to defy gravity, appearing stable yet on the verge of collapse, which leaves the viewer entranced with a new way to look at the world,” Dr. Goldstein said.
Each stone is a different type of marble or granite, painted with a proprietary mix of brightly hued automotive paint and sealed to minimize color fading. The piece was created by internationally renowned Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone.
“dallas mountain is such a joyful addition to the collection of sculptures on Seldin Plaza. It’s hard not to smile when you encounter the piece, with its top-heavy composition and DayGlo palette,” said UTSW Art Curator Courtney Crothers. “And its placement works beautifully in relation to Dumna, by Ursula von Rydingsvard, which was installed in 2019. The two artists are very different, yet their works seem to be in dialogue across from each other. Both sculptures relate to family history and the artists’ cultural and geographic roots.”
The tower, fabricated and painted at a quarry in Italy, is rich in creative spirit. Mr. Rondinone’s father, Benito, was born in Matera, Italy, an ancient city built into limestone cliffs that is one of the oldest continually inhabited settlements in the world. Benito was a stonemason whose handmade stone walls greatly influenced Mr. Rondinone’s extensive body of work that is featured in galleries, museums, and outdoor public spaces worldwide.
The artist works in a variety of mediums, including sculpture, drawing, painting, photography, architecture, and video and sound installation. Mr. Rondinone’s art is immersed in the beauty of nature, pushing the boundaries of expression. The UTSW sculpture continues with that theme, exploring the relationship between the natural and manmade.
Dr. Goldstein and his 50-year lab partner, Nobel Laureate Michael Brown, M.D., Professor of Molecular Genetics and Director of the Erik Jonsson Center for Research in Molecular Genetics and Human Disease, shared the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of the low-density lipoprotein receptor and its role in cholesterol metabolism.
Science and art are closely linked, said Dr. Goldstein, and his generosity has turned Seldin Plaza into an environment rich in meaning. “dallas mountain is a feast for the eyes – a rock star of sculpture, literally as well as figuratively,” he said.
All the pieces donated by Dr. Goldstein to date are installed in or near Seldin Plaza: Plantoir, Blue (Mid-Scale), a 15-foot blue garden trowel, by the late Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen; Elmgreen & Dragset’s Life Rings, Fig. 2, a monumental arrangement of red-and-white life preservers stretching skyward; Dumna by Ursula von Rydingsvard, a sculpture resembling natural wood or stone with a colorful patina; two untitled geometric forms by Joel Shapiro; and an untitled steel and copper piece by Christopher Wool, inspired by tangles of fencing wire.
The Plaza also contains a bronze sculpture of Dr. Seldin, first Chair of Internal Medicine and one of the guiding forces in UT Southwestern’s history.
