Photos by M. Cook
There are similarities between the 30-foot-tall (9.14 m) and the block-like forms of the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. I find it interesting that conquerors would so quickly adopt architectural styles of a people (Aztec/Inca) they apparently felt were, apart from their gold, useless.
Inscribed on the narrow wall of the crotch is this quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not."
(Emerson was an inveterate arm-chair traveler so you gotta consider the source.)
Cook saw it as a pair of unzipped pants.
The sculpture also brought to mind a monograph published during my tenure at UNM Press: Las Carneradas: Sheep Trade in New Mexico 1700 - 1860. It describes how the Spaniards brought, as food for their journey, hundreds of thousands of sheep. The landscape was so severely impacted it's speculated it will evolve rather than recover. Much of the land to the east and south is part of the Armendaris Ranch, owned by Ted Turner.
West-facing side
If you've read Sophocles the Hyena by Jim Moran - a tale of Morris the cat on his way to cat-school - you may recall Ralph-Ralph, the dog, who carries in his pocket a bit of green glass. As each new friend joins the group he brings it out to show announcing, "It's the only nice thing I've ever owned."
I have yet to make it the five miles down to the Visitor Center (closed until further notice.) But inquiring minds wonder at the influence wielded to obtain funding for such an out-of-the-way project?
More about Turner and the Armendaris. There are also, of course, Youtube vids.
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