Stars Don’t Stay Still in the Sky – Lawrence Weiner Tribute

December 13, 2021

The great artist Lawrence Weiner left us at 79 years old on December 2, 2021. He was unique, formulating his own original, new type of art in 1968 and carrying out his deep commitment in that direction his entire life. His art, language-based sculpture, was aimed at everyone and any place, as he once said to me: “If one person sees it, if one person gets it, it may change their logic structure.”

As a friend and neighbor in the West Village in New York City, he was a joyful character in a red leather jacket and eccentric hats. He was like his statement, “the work is what is says”—deeply authentic.

I will never forget the great feeling I had listening to his speech at his retrospective at the Whitney Museum in 2007, organized by the great curator Donna De Salvo. When he thanked everyone in his deep voice, “from the bottom of my heart,” it was a merging of the artist and his art, an artist who deeply respected human dignity.

Steven Holl
December 5, 2021