ATLANTA — The concrete columns at the intersection of Glen Iris Drive and Highland Avenue isn’t another partially finished residential community. No, this is public art.
“54 Columns” — a collection of, yes, 54 columns ranging from 10 to 20 feet tall — was created in 1999 by Sol LeWitt, a minimalist artist. The columns — known to some as “Ghetto Stonehenge” — are supposed to resemble Atlanta’s skyline.
The art project was commissioned by the Fulton County Arts Council. In 2007, the Atlanta City Council designated the 210-acre Freedom Park, which is home to “54 Columns,” as an Atlanta Public Art Project.
LeWitt’s works can be seen in a number of museums nationwide, including Atlanta’s High Museum of Art. The Connecticut-born LeWitt, who died in 2007 at the age of 78, “helped establish Conceptualism and Minimalism as dominant movements of the postwar era,” The New York Times wrote in his April 9, 2007, obituary.
However, not everyone has treated “54 Columns” with respect and reverence over the years. In 2005, a vandal painted one of the columns pink, according to a Sept. 28, 2005, report in Creative Loafing.