Between 1966 and 1967, Robert Smithson produced the Alogon series, including Alogon III, 1967, in Glenstone’s collection. Each of the three pieces consist of different configurations of stepped metal components, devoted to the illogical—or “alogical”—tendencies that Smithson identified as inherent to and necessary for the successful functioning of our environment. From the periphery, the Alogon works appear to be coherent structural units. Their gestalt, however, quickly unravels as viewers approach from a frontal perspective, exposing the work as a composition of segmented units. The Alogon works demonstrate what the artist referred to as “three-dimensional perspective,” and operate as studied illusions of holistic objects—sculptures reacting against the perceived unity of their environment.
–From the Glenstone Field Guide