James Lee Byars – The Path of Luck

For James Lee Byars, life itself was art and could only be contemplated and treated as such. His art extends to sculptures and installations; works on fabric and paper; and performative pieces, alongside an extensive volume of correspondence and other memorabilia. Through his works, Byars could embrace concepts such as perfection, beauty, temporality, and impermanence, and likewise the effects of time and scale on the viewer.

Encased in six vitrines are sculptures in blue African granite entitled Twelve Figures, The Two Figures, The Cross, The Discus, The Square Door, and The Sphere Door. The vitrines are built as replicas of the vitrines recurrently used by German artist Joseph Beuys (1921–1986). Originating in Namibia, the blue granite is more brittle and fragile than other types of granite. But its lustrous royal blue tones and intense veining of white, brown, and occasionally yellow make it a particularly sought-after rock.

The vitrines and objects, which together make up The Path of Luck (1989), can be regarded as embodying Byars’ interest in how beauty manifests as perfection. At Magasin III, The Path of Luck was first displayed in 1992 as the only work in Byars’ solo exhibition, and subsequently in two of the museum’s group exhibitions, in 1994 and 1998, respectively.