Stones in Hartford and LA

"Stone Field Sculpture" by Carl Andre, in Hartford, CT, is similar in scale and ambition to Michael Heizer's "Levitated Mass" which is currently being installed at LACMA. Both pieces evoke a contrast between geologic time and human time, and reference the use of stone throughout art history.  One big difference between these two pieces so far seems to be their reception by the public. While the gigantic stone used for "Levitated Mass" was transported on a specially-designed metal truss, accompanied by cheering crowds, police escorts, and cooperative LA Dept of Transportation workers who took down traffic lights on it's triumphant journey from a quarry outside LA to the yard outside LACMA, the Carl Andre piece was despised when it was installed in 1977, has kept a low profile since then, and has even recently endured suggestions that it be "improved" with a water feature. That pretty well sums up the different attitudes about art in Hartford and Los Angeles!