Tony Price, Atomic Needle
On view in the West Garden
Tony Price
1937 Brooklyn, New York – 2000 Santa Fe, New Mexico
Atomic Needle
ca. 1980
recycled stainless steel and aluminum
Albuquerque Museum, gift of Michael Henningsen and Family
PC2015.8.2
A formidable sculpture, Atomic Needle is made up of a series of stacked circular pieces of metal collected from discarded materials from Los Alamos National Labs. Tony Price was deeply affected by the development and use of nuclear weapons and his artwork revolved around confronting this subject. His sculptures, all made from material collected at Los Alamos, often depict deities from different cultures around the world. He transforms offcast artifacts of destruction into new symbols of positive energy.