60-Second Critic: Iroquois, by Mark di Suvero

Public Art
Iroquois, by Mark di Suvero
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One of the world’s greatest abstract expressionist sculptors, di Suvero — born in Shanghai to Italian parents — has become famous for his dynamic and expressive force of action, combining steel and vivid color to create industrial-size works of raw emotion.

Iroquois, his Philadelphia debut, is a 40-foot-high sculpture of painted red steel positioned on the Ben Franklin Parkway near Spring Garden. An assimilation of elegance, fluidity and monumentality, it demands attention, and for all the right reasons. Study the work and you’ll easily see why the artist has described himself as someone who paints “in three dimensions, with the crane as my paintbrush.”