Vertical view of Michael Heizer’s Convoluted Line A and Convoluted Line B (both 2024) prior to installation, with structural
support system, in production yard, Nevada, 2025. Artwork © Michael Heizer. Photo: Clint Jenkins ( captured from https://gagosian.com/ )
Gagosian is proud to present two landmark "negative sculptures" by Michael Heizer, titled Convoluted Line A and Convoluted Line B, at the gallery’s 522 West 21st Street location. Both of these works were completed in 2024.
The exhibition opens today, February 10, 2026, and features an opening reception from 6 to 8 PM. The public can view the installation through March 28, 2026.
These works represent the latest evolution of a creative lineage that spans over six decades. This artistic journey traces back to Heizer’s pioneering outdoor interventions in the Nevada and California deserts during the late 1960s.
Convoluted Line A and Convoluted Line B stand as some of the artist’s most intricate negative line sculptures produced to date.
They are composed of winding steel earth liners that have been embedded directly into a raised concrete floor.
These works possess the delicate precision of a hand-drawn mark even though they are executed at a monumental scale. The sculptures were designed specifically for the gallery’s expansive interior.
Spanning a total of 87 1/2 feet in length, the two pieces create a unified environment that invites viewers to move through and experience the space physically.
The exhibition also features a curated selection of early drawings that provide vital historical context for Heizer’s career-long obsession with line, mass, and negative space.
His artistic journey began in the mid-1960s with shaped canvases that utilized geometric light and shadow.
These early experiments suggested the presence of form through its deliberate absence. By 1967, Heizer transitioned these concepts into the physical landscape by treating the earth itself as his primary medium.
The current sculptures echo his seminal land art projects from that era.
For example, his Nine Nevada Depressions from 1968 consisted of a series of loops and zigzags excavated across 520 miles of desert terrain, though these are no longer extant.
Another major reference is Double Negative from 1969, which is a legendary achievement involving two massive, 50-foot-deep cuts into opposing mesa walls near Nevada’s Virgin River.
In this new installation, Heizer continues to push the boundaries of sculptural form. He challenges the traditional definition of a monument by hollowing out the floor rather than building upon it.
The "convoluted" paths of the steel liners act as a physical manifestation of the artist’s work.
They represent his enduring dialogue between the permanence of the earth and the ephemerality of the human gesture.
The title of the exhibition is Michael Heizer: Convoluted Line A and Convoluted Line B. It is held at the Gagosian gallery located at 522 West 21st Street in New York.
The opening reception takes place on Tuesday, February 10, from 6 to 8 PM. The official exhibition dates run from February 10 through March 28, 2026.
