Cara Despain, Seeing the Stone, 2016. Cast Concrete dimensions variable.

Cara Despain

Salt Lake City

Central Utah Art Center

Despite appearances to the contrary, the 23 rocks protruding from the walls in Cara Despain’s Seeing the Stone were not the final end game. The installation was more like a veneer or mirage pointing to the actual artwork. Attached to the walls with sturdy iron hooks, the stones ranged from pea- to melon-size and undulated between knee- and eye level. Accompanying GPS coordinates signaled the original locations of the rocks, which were found scattered around Utah. Seasoned gallery-goers would have read these stones as ill-shaped pieces of abstract sculpture, marveling at the gravity-defying engineering of the display. But they might also have drawn connections between rock and location, prompting them to ask…see the entire review in the print version of March’s Sculpture magazine.