A quick Encounter with an old friend.

While sitting in a stiff wooden chair on the patio at a local corner coffee shop, George Brecht, a contemporary artist had only gotten as far as to unfold his Sunday paper when a familiar face walking toward him on the sideway caught his attention. This was a familiar face that Brecht had not seen in years, and a familiar face that given the opportunity, did not want to pass up. This familiar face was none other than fellow contemporary artist Robert Smithson, Brecht’s friend. Even though Brecht was just as well known for his installation pieces such as the Three Chair Event, which was showcased in the Martha Jackson Gallery, Brecht was a long-time friend and admirer of Smithson’s work.

Smithson slowly made his way toward the side of the coffee shop where Brecht eagerly flagged him down.

“Hello dear friend Smithson! How are you?”

“George Brecht. What a wonderful surprise to see you. Nancy always asks me what I love about my afternoon strolls around town, and this is what I love; I love seeing what is being created around me, especially the landscaping; and running into old friends that I have not talked or seen in a long time,” exclaimed Robert Smithson as he made his way over to where George Brecht was sitting, who still had his unread newspaper in one hand and a half-sipped coffee in the other. “As you can see, my health is intact, my marriage is going well, and my mind is going a hundred miles an hour with new ideas that I want to explore.”

“Ah, I am so happy for you! Come sit and join me. I am very intrigued by what new ideas you want to explore. I remember the last time I talked to you, you were very much interested in mirrors and glass. I read about your show at the Dwan Gallery a couple winters ago, and how eye-opening it was. If I’m correct, it had to do with the concept of appearance and reality playing off against each other, basically allowing us, the observer to constantly form new understandings of what is intended in going on, and what you mean by creating this piece. I’m truly sorry to say that I was unable to make it, but I read and heard amazing raves about it. Congrats dear friend, congrats! Now, explain this new idea of yours,” said Brecht as he pulled out a chair for Smithson to retire in.

“Oh, dear Brecht. You are too much to kind to say such things. How about you? I heard about your Three Chair Event exhibition at the Martha Jackson Gallery from some years back. I most enjoyed the news of the subtleness of your piece, and how people were even unaware of the fact that what they were resting on what was in fact, part of the art show. How clever and different! But yes, I do have a new idea storming up in this brain of mine. As you already know, I’ve always been into the outdoors, and anything related environmentally. I have been working on the idea of constructing a site-specific earth work project. I’ve drawn out the whole idea, but now I have to actually put it into reality. Here, let me draw it out for it.”
Brecht waited as Smithson drew out his latest idea on the nearby napkin. Brecht curiously peered over at Smithson’s drawing and watched on as his friend continued to draw out a spiral-shaped form.

“Spiral? You want to create a spiral on land? Why?”

“Yes, a spiral. The reason for this is because it celebrates both nature and technology. It can also be seen as the contradicting symbol for either growth or destruction. If not that, then it can also represent the general form for the orbit of the moon – both an expanding force, and a contracting force. The center represents the sun, which is the beginning and the end of the universe.”

“I see,” Brecht said as he allowed the information that was just said to sink in. “And how would you go about making this happen? What kind of materials would you use to create this?”

“Well, I know that there is an abandoned oil rig site in the Great Salt Lake in Utah. I think it is off of Rozelle Point. I have been contacting land mining corporations to see if I could use that land. I want to make it out of materials that cannot be moved or eroded too quickly. I obviously want this piece to last as long as possible. I think the most readily available and easily accessible materials are mud, rocks, and water. I could just pick that up from the surrounding desert. I would need large dump trucks and tractors to move everything. It is definitely a work-in-progress, but I am thoroughly excited about it.”

“Wow, seems like you have everything going well for you. Again, I am very happy for you sir.”

“Enough about me. Tell me more about your Three Chair Event. I know what I read, but I want to hear everything from your mouth, and what you have done since then.”

“Okay, let me see. As you already know, it was some years ago when I had my exhibition. I had three different chairs, all different colors – white, black, and yellow. I placed the black chair in a bathroom, making it appear very nonchalant and part of the area itself. I placed the white chair in the spot-light in the middle of the gallery with a Three Chairs Event score placed nearby so that people would have the chance to realize that it was part of an art piece. Lastly, I placed the yellow chair outside the gallery where to my surprise was used by none other than Claes Oldenburg’s mother. Some years after that, I went to Rome where I worked on Chair with a History, part of a series that featured a chair with a red book on it, inviting observers to add whatever they noticed that was happening right then and there on the chair as part of its history. I think it went accordingly,” Brecht added.

“Yes, yes! I heard only good things about your series. Ah, and to be in Rome when doing it. Must have been amazing over there, what with the culture, the art, the scenery…simply amazing. Dear friend, I must get going. I told Nancy that I was only going for a quick stroll. Don’t want to keep her waiting and worried. It was so good catching up! Til next time, goodbye.”

“Goodbye Robert. Tell hello to Nancy for me,” George Brecht said as he got up to shake his companion’s hand. Brecht still with his unread newspaper in one hand and a three-fourths-sipped coffee in the other, opened the newspaper and at last began to read.