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 ones. And more.

Outdoors, against the green hills of the Hudson Valley, about two
dozen large pieces, some rarely exhibited, some from Storm King’s
own holdings of Smith’s work, are given ample space, yet grouped so
that no sculpture is wholly isolated from the others. Inside,
smaller works are installed with related and sometimes not so
related drawings and spray paintings. From the interior of the
elegant house that serves as Storm King’s gallery, we can look out
the windows to the outdoor portion of the show, so that connections
between works in different scales and different media become
visible. All this is given a frame