Fifteen Planes by David Smith

Lyndsay Martinelli

Alex Boyes

An interesting piece that we found at the exhibit was called “Fifteen Planes”, created in 1958 by David Smith. The entire piece is made out of stainless steel and is comprised of fifteen steel, rectangular sheets. The sheets, or planes, are welded together and are attached to one another by a small portion, allowing the entire piece to branch out as the individual pieces build off of one another. The piece is supported by two long poles, both of which are actually two very long and skinny steel sheets, making the tallest part of the structure reach about ten feet tall. These poles attach to the fifteen smaller, connected planes. The two poles are attached to a large, flat base which is what holds the entire structure to the floor. This very plane work of art exudes simplicity, but to us, seemed to take the shape of a flamingo or similar bird dipping its head into the water. The planes are basically plain, taking steel’s natural silvery color. However, upon observing more closely, we noticed that the sheets had a random pattern on them that  resembled the look of finger smears in a squiggly formation on the surface. Most of the sheets of steel face vertically, so our view was that of the base.The only exceptions were three planes that lie on a horizontal axis, allowing us the view of the planes’ edges. The piece as a whole exhibits parts that are only rectangular shaped; there is no roundness to the piece at all.

    This piece stuck out to us because even though the structure is made out of so many individual little pieces, when these pieces are combined, they create a bigger picture. We thought it resembled a flamingo. The long poles resemble the flamingo’s legs and the square steel sheets are arranged in a way that resemble the shape of a flamingo’s body bending over as if the flamingo was drinking from a creek. Overall, what we found most interesting and appealing Aleis that if taken apart, this structure would be nothing more but fifteen sheets of stainless steel. But the artist put the pieces together in a way that allowed them to form another shape entirely. Whether it was our imagination or the artist’s intent, a flamingo drinking from a creek stood before us.