1979-4’s spare, round frame with a few objects affixed to it typifies Richard Stankiewicz’s late work. Originally trained in engineering, Stankiewicz established his reputation in the 1950s as a virtuoso of inventive junk assemblages. By 1969, however, he was using newly fabricated industrial elements, such as cylinders and I-beams, to fashion comparatively restrained abstractions. Stankiewicz spent three months in Australia in 1969, during which he had an opportunity to create work in a steel plant in Sydney. The experience provided him with an understanding of industrial steel manufacturing and new welding techniques, which had a profound impact on his practice. The artistic process was paramount for Stankiewicz, who once commented, “It isn’t the thing; it’s making the thing. Because in making the thing you are making yourself, and after you have made it you are a little bit changed and that’s the product, and the thing, it can go into the world.”