David Von Schlegell’s three-part work at the base of Museum Hill was one of the first sculptures commissioned by Storm King’s founders. Designed specifically for its current site, it comprises a series of delicate, open cubes, each reaching twenty feet into the air. At ground level, the thin metallic legs are barely perceptible so that the squares seem to float in space; seen from the hill above, the cubes appear to rest on or hover just above the earth. Von Schlegell intended the work to be contingent on its natural setting, elemental phenomena, and the viewer’s perspective. As he noted, “These pieces have a specific alignment relative to the earth. Reflecting light, they change with the earth’s time and with the flux of its weather. They force a particular awareness of the most basic element of nature, the sun.”

Von Schlegell was an engineer before he became an artist, working for Douglas Aircraft in the 1940s. He brought his engineering expertise to bear on his sculptural production, employing industrial materials—aluminum, stainless steel, and wood—and construction methods in the creation of his streamlined, abstract works.