Michael Heizer: Dragged Mass

This limited-edition etching by Michael Heizer pays homage to Dragged Mass (1971), a sculpture—no longer extant—commissioned for the artist’s 1971 solo exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Heizer produced the original work by employing two tractors to haul a thirty-ton granite slab, sourced from a Vermont quarry, back and forth across the museum’s front lawn, excavating a rough pit in which the block became partially buried. The print is based on the artist’s initial sketch for the project—which was later dismantled at the insistence of the museum’s board—and a photograph of the block. Published by Durham Press, Dragged Mass (2018) incorporates unconventional techniques, including sandblasting, scraping with gravel, and etching with a needle mounted to an industrial loader—echoing the movement of earth undertaken in Detroit over half a century ago.