1967–68/2006
Tony Smith American, 1912-1980
United States
Tony Smith worked for two decades as an architect but remains best known as a key figure associated with the emergence of Minimalist sculpture in the 1960s. Despite the polished finish of many of his works, he was casual in the way he spoke about them: “I was just thinking about form. They just exist. They are just present.”
Stinger, an early sculpture, “has a rhomboidal, or di- amond-shaped, cross-section,” in the artist’s words. Its overall shape is that of an open-sided square, recalling a basic architectural plan of a room, with one point of entry and exit. More playfully, Smith is said to have titled the sculpture after the classic, deceptively sweet cocktail.
Cast bronze with black patina