"I accidentally struck one rod when I wanted to bend it. The sound echoed in my mind for a very long time. Then it initiated a deliberate gesture in search of understanding what a group of wires would do--and that process is still going on." - Harry Bertoia, 1977

Commissioned for the Colorado National Bank in Denver in 1975, the scale and, thus, the measure of sound created by the rods that comprise the present work embody all that fascinated Bertoia with breaking the silence of sculpture. Monumental Sound Sculpture is a profoundly important example of a body of work that marked a culmination in Bertoia’s career and garnered the artist’s critical acclaim.

Beginning in the 1960s with various metals, and up until his death in 1978, Bertoia became increasing focused on the vast possibilities which his sound sculptures presented. Instantly recognizable icons of our time, the varying material, configuration of the rods and the space in which the artist worked speak to the range of tonal qualities his sculptures created. To define many of these works, Bertoia coined the term “Sonambient,” a way to describe the specific combination of environment and sound, and a notion that has become synonymous with the artist’s name. By mixing the sounds that his sculptures generated, Bertoia produced 11 albums throughtout his career.