Americana: Throwing Rocks Around in Hartford

Was it sculpture or a gigantic joke—Pet Rocks on a heroic scale? Folks in Hartford, Conn., have been debating that since just before Labor Day, when several trucks and a large crane deposited 36 boulders, some weighing 19,000 Ibs., in a rough triangular pattern around a downtown park. The arrangement is the creation of Minimalist Sculptor Carl Andre, who was commissioned at a cost of $87,000 by a local foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. But Hartford citizens could not be more angry if they had paid for it themselves. Snapped Mayor George Athanson: "You call that a sculpture?...