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Most of That Iceberg is Below the Water

From a distance, Sam Richardson’s sculpture, Most of That Iceberg is Below the Water from 1969, might remind the viewer of a tissue box with one pure white tissue pinched and pulled up through the center into a stiff, white peak. Although a little larger than an actual tissue box, this blue and white one could fit on a side table just as well. The artwork stands 14 inches high at the tip of the peak, 14 inches long, and 10 inches wide. The smooth, white polyurethane foam peak is embedded in deep-ocean water made of midnight-blue hardened polyester resin. Below a layer of water sits a wide band of ice made of smooth white fiberglass and polyester filler. This ice band is pale blue at its center, with the color gently seeping into white above and below. Under the ice layer, the bottom layer of the box is a slender strip of more midnight-blue resin ocean water. Both layers of resin are polished to create a gleaming shine that contrasts with the slightly matte finish of the ice layer. The water’s sides are impeccably smooth; the top not so much rippling as covered with little crinkles all along the surface.

Like a tissue box, all of the outer edges and corners of the plywood box portion are straight and precise. Where the middle ice layer meets both layers of water, straight lines are replaced with gentle arcs like rolling waves. But the middle layer does not fit exactly into the water layers above and below. It is very slightly misaligned, an ice sheet bobbing softly on the water.

Like a real iceberg, this one has an uneven, slanted peak poking through the surface of the water. The tapered outline of the rest of the iceberg shows only hazily through the midnight blue. It widens as it goes deeper, then disappears in the depths. The bottom of the iceberg is not visible behind the ice layer; it is clear that, as the title promises, most of this iceberg is indeed below the water.