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? I could have done that." Residents condemned the boulders as "a public nuisance"; businessmen protested that they could become hiding places for muggers and targets for graffiti addicts. One citizen suggested the city return the rocks and consider his $99.95 offer for the junk in his basement, including "one used potty-chair, a tricycle with no handle bars, one broken ski, an old doorknob and six bags of leaves."

Andre insists that he has transformed the park from "a latrine for dogs" into a place of beauty. As for cost, pound for pound his new work was a steal. The last time Andre stirred such a ruckus was last year, when London's Tate Gallery admitted it had paid $12,000 for one of his creations: 120 bricks, stacked in a rectangle.