Artist: Albert Paley
Year: 2002
Materials: steel
Location: Library’s main entrances, 100 West Broadway Columbia, MO
About the art
These paired sculptures, each more than 30 feet tall and weighing more than 56,000 pounds combined, were installed in 2002 to mark the entrances of the new library. The artist intended his works to serve as guardians that “herald the entering and exiting of the library.” The title, Cypher, refers to the complexities of language so essential to the function of a library and its holdings.
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