Skyviewing Sculpture 1969

Isamu Noguchi’s Skyviewing Sculpture, is some kind of dark material cut into flat planes that look like a child’s drawing of a house, but with perfectly round holes! Noguchi has this way of making serious sculpture that still feels playful. The heavy, matte surface absorbs light, making the shapes read clearly against the sky. It’s almost like he’s reverse-engineering how we see, turning solid forms into frames for catching glimpses of the world. I find myself drawn to the way the sculpture sits on those three stubby pillars. It’s so simple, yet it makes the whole thing feel precarious, like it could tip over any minute. It reminds me of Brancusi, who was similarly interested in balancing acts. Noguchi invites us to reconsider our relationship with space and form. He knows that art is not just about what we see, but how we see.