Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens – Purchase, New York’s Best Kept Secret
February 10, 2021
It has been 35 years since Richard completed his first monumental sculpture in stone: Passage, commissioned by Donald M. Kendall for his renowned sculpture gardens at PepsiCo in Purchase, New York. Carved from Italian travertine, Passage, reaches 16 feet into the air and 25 feet wide.
Revisiting the 1986 book documenting work at The Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens at PepsiCo. An amazing collection of artists whose work sit alongside Passage: Claes Oldenburg, Jean Dubuffet, Alberto Giacometti, Max Ernst, Louise Nevelson, Henry Moore, and many other greats.
The meaning of Passage is both literal and figurative. “The literal passage one experiences,” Erdman says, “is that you pass through, in, around, and on the sculpture as with every physical space encountered. So you’re learning, growing, experiencing all the time you pass from one place to another.” The figurative meaning refers to passing life.
“Life’s passage is the reference through the sculpture and like the sculpture, it is what you decide to make of it, the beauty of abstract art…The sculpture beckons the viewer, gives all sorts of feelings, yet always remains on its own, seemingly eternally happy, full of integrity…The experience’ opens your senses and lets you walk away all the more tuned in, aware of your surroundings, and glad to be alive.
“It’s my expression of the grandeur of life.”
Read more about the epic creation and installation of Passage here.
Gardens designed by Russell Page.