Many of Liberman's sculptures, including Adam, Adonai, and Iliad at Storm King, bear biblical and mythical references. When asked about his interest in heroic titles, Liberman claimed that his close friend the Abstract Expressionist artist Barnett Newman had been influential in this regard, but that he had come to dislike titles. “They mean nothing to me,” he stated, “and today everybody wants titles. It’s like attaching a wooden handle to something that hopefully cannot be pinned down.” 

In contrast to Adonai, the cylindrical shapes of Iliad and Adam, each painted bright red, have been sliced into elliptical and circular forms. Iliad, with its dramatically cantilevered elements, forms a dynamic architectural space through which to walk. Liberman spoke about creating the work’s “extreme overhang, because I want to achieve a certain sense of awe.”