Bounty
2014. Cast bronze, 25' 7 ½" x 24" x 24" (781.1 x 61 x 61 cm). Private collection
Amber Waves
Fruited Plane
2014. Cast bronze, each 25' 7 ½" x 24" x 24" (781.1 x 61 x 61 cm). Courtesy the artist and Cheim & Read, New York
The titles of these three identical fountains, Bounty, Amber Waves, and Fruited Plane, reference a patriotic idea of natural abundance; two of the titles are loosely excerpted from the lyrics to “America the Beautiful.” Benglis, a certified scuba diver, is fascinated by the feeling of weightlessness found in water, and by the idea that when we are underwater, our sense of directions such as up and down is confused. She has said in relation to Bounty: “Water itself can be bountiful and flowing upward. I think of Bounty as a living growth or an explosion of water that is frozen in bronze, but also emits this water.” Standing at a height of twenty-five feet, these are the tallest works that Benglis has made to date.