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Hunt is an 18-year Tribeca resident and one of the most prominent
contemporary sculptors working today. Thousands of the memorial
sculptures, torch-cut steel blocks engraved on one side with “Recovered
Steel World Trade Center” and on the other with the simple
inscription “September 11, 2001,” were made from his design.
The memorials, the idea of retired firefighter Lee Ielpi, whose
son Jonathan was a firefighter killed in the disaster, have been
offered through the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. to victims’
families, and more than 1,400 relatives have requested them.
Now, dismayed by what he calls “all this fancy stuff’
proposed for the future World Trade Center site, Hunt is working
on his own vision for what should rise at the site—a vision
of buildings, he says, as both sculpture, and icons. Hunt has constructed
two towers, connected by bridges at top and bottom, that vaguely
resembles the form of a woman’s legs. This summer he plans
to turn his idea into a nine-foot sculpture.
Recalling his seminal 1974 sculpture, Empire State with Hindenburg,
Hunt says the new piece “wraps a whole body of work in a way.”
His Empire State Building, now in the Whitney Museum, put him on
the art world map. Along with constructions of other “earth
monuments”—the Hoover Dam, Wall of China, and Tower of
Babel—it reflects an early interest in what one curator described
as “a curious amalgamation of art, science, technology and
philosophy.”
Before Sept. 11, Hunt woke up each morning to a view of the World
Trade Center from a loft above his ground floor studio. Like many
Downtowners, he is still haunted by its absence.
“I want to reconstruct them in my life,” he says simply.
Even as the selection of final plans for the World Trade Center
site drew near last month, Hunt entertained hope that his design
somehow would be recognized and that he would be brought into the
process.
“I’m a dreamer,” says the sculptor, standing beside
his gently curving model. “That’s my job,”
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