Tal Riff : Red Line to the Sky c.1973

Post Endless Column, post Flying Red Lines, on his return to the United States, Tal began development of a piece called  "Red Line to the Sky". 

Red Line to the Sky continued his boyhood fascination with towers, beacons and other tall structures seen from a great distance. Not yet  built (Ha ! ) this work went through many transformations. Red, not red, mirror finish steel, lasers emanating the top...anything to get off the earth's surface and up up into the sky !


His later proposals for "Prairie Beacon" and Kwanju Korea's "Great Tower of Light" all stem from this first light "tower".  

Red Line to the Sky drawing c.1973

The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC collection has an early pencil drawing of Tal's Red Line to the Sky with the following notes on the back: 

 "Somewhere between these two dimensions is the optimum, minimal height. 

Polished Chrome "mirror" four sided or single surfaces to be 2'- 0 (4' - 0) or 4' - (8' - 0 ) 

ie : really the needle, the skyscraper, the Empire State Building is the most dramatic contemporary statement - from skyscraper back to menhir in the "Cock" and Endless Column / Brancusi believed he had achieved something approaching ultimate perfection 1.1: Scale 1/4 - 1' SCALE : 1/4" = 2 - 0 ..."

I've found other Tal notes in SD magazine / Space Design Magazine May/June 1971  regarding Red Line to the Sky : 

"To put a mark in the sky with the finest of brushes. a Red Line to the Sky beginning somewhere deep in the earth but without end, continuing noiselessly on into the heavens. "


Tal's last riff on a "light tower" were his discussions with architect Gustavo Bonevardi of PROUN Space Studio in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy. Tal suggested "two towers of white light". 

Yes you read that right. A proposal for two twin towers of light post 9/11. 

Tal considered the "Tribute in Light" which Bonevardi and Co. then organized and installed, a beautiful piece, making multiple trips to see it.  

I've never seen Tal's name mentioned as part of the team of other architects and artists that collaborated with Bonavardi. 

Romig says they met one evening at friends and Tal offered his idea of light towers. There you are.

Looking through the artists generally mentioned with this piece, none had ever done anything remotely like this in their previous works. 

Looks like a Tal "riff" that someone else carried to beautiful fruition. After all, It is one thing to have an idea and yet another to "make it happen".