Gorky’s Pillow
15’3” x 24’ x 9’5”
Steel
Fabricated in 1987
2015 Open Studio Fellow
Artist Statement
Mark di Suvero is a lifelong activist for peace and social justice, and has demonstrated a generous commitment to helping artists. In 1962, he co-founded Park Place Gallery, the first artists’ cooperative in New York City. In 1977, he established the Athena Foundation to assist artists to realize their ambitions. In 1986, he established Socrates Sculpture Park at the site of a landfill on the Eas River in Long Island City, New York.
Johnny Appleseed
23’6” x 22’ x 44’
Fabricated steel and stainless steel
Fabricated in 1992
2009 Open Studio Fellow
Artist Statement
Johnny Appleseed recalls the forms of the industrial machinery used to make it while also incorporating whimsical, mischevious elements as well. The sculpture taunts the viewer with backhoe bucket loader lookouts and criss-crossing eyebeams raised like tightropes, daring climbers to take a risk and scale to the top. The title references the legendary American pioneer Johnny Appleseed, and imbues the sculpture with the same sense of adventure that marked the period of westward expansion in American history.
Mark di Suvero
Born: Shanghai, China, 1933
Resides: New York City, NY, USA
Education
BA, Philosophy, University of California, 1956
University of California – Santa Barbara, 1955
San Francisco City College, 1954