American Vistas

For nearly 50 years, John Van Alstine has created abstract sculptures forged with stone and steel. At their essence, they explore natural forces and man-made elements, conveying the American experience as the confluence/conflict between wilderness and industrialization.

Since the early 19th century, as the nation moved west, American landscape artists have depicted this juxtaposition as a particularly American dichotomy, a friction between the march of economic progress and the vast expanses of open space—the Garden of Eden spoiled by modernity and machinery.

Written as a companion piece to John Van Alstine: Sculpture 1971-2018, released in 2019 by The Artist Book Foundation (TABF), American Vistas: The Life and Art of John Van Alstine, not only highlights and offers a critical assessment of his art, but it delves into biographic elements that drive his creative process and reveals the person as much as the art. Combined, they are meant to be a singular and complete examination on one of the most important sculptors in the last half century.