Soldered brass, 14 x 11 x 7, 2017.
The sculpture is a gate in its simplest form: two supports and a beam across them, with an opening between. A tall shell-shaped form with its concave face turned outward rises above the beam like a pediment over a doorway. The opening is a large void, and little crosses it: a shallow bowl on a short stem hangs in it, and one thin wire arcs from support to support. Both leave the passage clear. The wire spans the gap the way a bridge spans a strait, so the minimal structure serves as gate and bridge together.
Several gates carry this name, and each is a ceremonial entrance defined by an arrival: ships at San Francisco, a Messiah at Jerusalem, a triumphing army at Constantinople and Kyiv. The sculpture’s opening is clear and holds no arrival. Jerusalem’s Golden Gate has been walled up since 1541, and this one has no wall across it. Whoever or whatever passes through is for the viewer to supply.
