Richard Hunt
American, born 1935
Hero Construction
1958
Steel
ht.: 162.6 cm
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold H. Maremont, 1958.528

Richard Hunt made his early sculptures from found objects: metal scraps, old pipes, automobile parts, and other castoffs he picked up on the street or in junk yards. He worked in a zoology laboratory when he was young, and developed an interest in insects and metamorphosis, such as the natural process in which a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. For this artist, creating completely new forms out of junk was a similar kind of metamorphosis.

Why do you think the artist chose the title Hero Construction? What is heroic about this figure?