Visitors to “The Fields of David Smith” at the Storm King Art Center are likely to come away feeling confused and enlightened—confused because Smith will seem as elusive as ever and enlightened because they will have gained a truer understanding of the enigmatic, apparently inexhaustible work of this extraordinary artist.[1] The show is neither tidy nor designed to help viewers pigeonhole Smith, but that is exactly why it does deepen our sense of what he was about. Instead of a neatly organized sequence, a wide-ranging assortment of Smith’s sculptures, both large and small, in a variety of media, has been installed throughout Storm King’s indoor exhibition spaces and extending to the generous adjacent lawns. There are muscular, chunky works and slender, linear ones; dense, intricately constructed pieces and others pared down to essentials; brooding, richly allusive sculptures and playful, seemingly straightforward ...

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