Outdoor Sculpture Collection


Richard Deutsch

Against the Day

 

(b. 1953)
Against the Day
2006
granite
Size variable
Gift of the Chevy Chase Land Company of Montgomery County, Maryland
Image by Colin Winterbottom

Richard Deutsch’s Against the Day is the only interactive work in our Sculpture Garden. We invite visitors to engage with and even sit on the granite components, which the California-based artist endearingly describes as “huggable.” Deutsch encourages movement around the work’s eight granite parts in order to allow for varying perspectives, creating what he calls the “drama around objects.” Flanked by five low-lying granite “benches,” the three larger, carved stones in the center aisle are the focal point, and embody humanistic qualities for Deutsch. The circular white form—with its keyhole-like window—symbolizes curiosity; the red sculpture in the center serves as an abstracted heart; and the black monolith represents strength and wisdom in its size and balance. To make Against the Day, Deutsch collaborated with a quarry in Carrara, Italy, working with carvers to translate his small maquettes into the large-scale sculptures. Against the Day joined the Permanent Collection in 2017, after previously being installed at the Chevy Chase Center in Maryland.


 

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