Andre's 'Stone Field Sculpture' In Downtown Hartford Suffers Another Indignity

HARTFORD So much for not touching Carl Andre's controversial stone sculpture in the relocation of downtown's Gold Street.

Workers marking utility lines last week spray-painted in orange and red the bases of 16 of the 36 glacial rocks that make up Andre's "Stone Field Sculpture" on the north side of the street.

"It was a mistake," Thomas E. Deller, the city's director of development services, said. "We have to talk to the contractor and come up with a protocol to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Lines are routinely marked in preparation for construction projects to ensure that they are not ruptured. The work is directed by "the Call Before You Dig" program, but the markings are performed either by utility companies or contractors they hire.

Deller said it was likely the workers did not know the significance of the boulders, which range in weight from 1,000 pounds to 10 tons.

"Unfortunately, the underground electric lines on that part of Gold Street run beneath the Stone Field Sculpture," said Mitch Gross, a spokesman for Eversource, formerly Connecticut Light & Power Co. "Still, we recognize that the boulders should not have been marked with paint."

Gross said the paint is biodegradable and is designed to disappear over time. But Eversource is directing On Target, the company that does line painting for the utility, to immediately remove the paint from the rocks.

"We are also using this opportunity to remind our contractors and employees to always be mindful of their surroundings when they are working," Gross said.

Eversource's line painter won't have to bother cleaning up the mess. Monday afternoon, workers from the Hartford Business Improvement District's "Clean Team" showed up with graffiti cleaner and brushes and started scrubbing. The team, more formally called cleaning ambassadors, routinely remove graffiti and pick up litter within the district.

"This is what we do on a daily basis," Michael Zaleski, the district's executive director, said, standing near one of the row of rocks.

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Andre's 'Stone Field Sculpture' In Downtown Hartford Suffers Another Indignity