Sculpture in Reverse is the reedition and first translation of an interview between Michael Heizer and Julia Brown, first published in 1984 in the exhibition catalog Michael Heizer, Sculpture in Reverse (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles—MOCA). The original text is reproduced in facsimile and followed by a translation in French, presented with illustrations from the original catalog, arranged in a new order.

Sculpture in Reverse
Michael Heizer

Translated from the English by Raphaëlle Brin, in collaboration with Manon Lutanie
Published with the support of Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap).

Published in September 2014
Printed in France
1500 copies
25 × 28 cm, in, 9.8 × 11 in, 73 pages
Bilingual edition (French, English)
ISBN: 978-2-918685-09-8
Price: €35 + shipping costs

Editors: Manon Lutanie, Cerise Fontaine, Raphaëlle Brin
Design: Manon Lutanie, after an original layout by Thomas Strong

Press:
Art Press
Critique d'art
Le Journal des Arts

Out of print

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Michael Heizer is an American artist born in Berkeley, California, in 1944, best known for his monumental excavations, site constructions, and geometric paintings. His work explores the relationship between positive and negative space, examining the effects of form and scale. As a child, he often accompanied his father, a renowned field archeologist, to digs in ancient sites. He briefly studied at the San Francisco Art Institute from 1963 to 1964, then moved to New York where he developed a long-lasting friendship with Walter De Maria. In 1967, he travelled to the Sierra Nevada mountains where he started to produce his first outdoor works. In 1969, he worked on a massive-scale project titled Double Negative (1969), two 457-meter-long, 15-meter-deep trenches on the Mormon Mesa, Nevada. In 1970, Heizer began construction on his major land sculpture, City (1970–2022) in the Nevada desert, which lasted over forty years. The work opened to visitors in 2022. More than a mile long, it is the largest contemporary artwork ever built. During the construction of City, Heizer developed several other important works, including geometric canvases and sculptures. In 2012, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art installed Levitated Mass (2012), a 340-ton granite boulder perched over a narrow outdoor passageway. Heizer is represented by Gagosian and currently lives and works in New York.