Mark di Suvero's monumentally scaled abstract sculptures are made primarily of industrial I-beams and heavy gauge metal. He composes his sculptures directly in these materials using construction equipment, without scale-drawn plans or models. Though many other artists commissioned industrial fabricators to create their large-scale sculptures, di Suvero learned to operate everything from the crane and anchor to the blowtorch and hammer, creating his pieces directly with a small team of workers. In T-8, rigid steel becomes a dynamic structure. While the sculpture stands on four beams firmly planted on the ground, these appendages become entangled in a knot of activity as they move skyward, and what formerly appeared stable and balanced morphs into a burst of animated energy. This vitality is enhanced as the viewer walks around the work, taking in the composition from multiple angles. T-8 is painted in the artist's signature bright orange red, creating maximum contrast against the blue sky. 

Early in his career, di Suvero drew inspiration for his sculptures from the docks of the Manhattan waterfront, especially the Fulton Fish Market near his studio at the southernmost tip of the island. A site of extensive construction after World War II, the docks provided di Suvero with wood and metal from demolition sites that he used in his work. In 1960, the artist suffered severe injuries including a broken back and leg from an elevator accident. While he was confined to a wheelchair, he learned to weld. Though he was expected never to walk again, di Suvero learned to do so with braces and crutches within four years. Soon after his accident, he purchased a used crane and transitioned to working with steel exclusively. “All of the tools are made for the body,” he explains. “When you work with steel, the machine is so much more. The weights are so much heavier and what you end up with are tools that allow you to work in steel, more for the handicapped.”(1) He describes his work in steel as “painting in three dimensions with the crane as my paintbrush.”(2)

(1) Quoted in “Poetry and Balance: The Life of a Sculptor” in Mark di Suvero (Mountainville: New York : Storm King Art Center, 2015).

(2) Michael Brenson, “Gallery View; A Sculpture Park for di Suvero’s Ladders to the Sky,” New York Times, August 25, 1985, Section 2, 27, https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/25/arts/gallery-view-a-sculpture-park-for-di-suvero-s-ladders-to-the-sky.html