Years ago I met Bill Harmon, who traveled over 400 miles a week to pour concrete for some of the scupture's curbs. Harmon told me how Heizer would angrily rip up a 78-by-240-foot slab because it was off by a sixteenth of an inch.
Years ago I met Bill Harmon, who traveled over 400 miles a week to pour concrete for some of the scupture's curbs. Harmon told me how Heizer would angrily rip up a 78-by-240-foot slab because it was off by a sixteenth of an inch.
I asked Harmon why he put up with it. His answer seemed like a definition of art.
“Mike is demanding,” he told me, “but I’ve worked in concrete all my life, and I’ve never had the time or money to do something to the best of my ability. Everything is hurry up. It’s about making money. That’s the American way.” On the other hand, Harmon said, Heizer asked him “to produce something that has more to do with accuracy than I’ve ever been allowed even to imagine. This here is my chance to do the best I can.”
- Michael Kimmelman, NYT "It Was a Mystery In The Desert For 50 Years" about Michael Heizer's 'City'
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/19/arts/design/michael-heizer-city.html