From Christo to Oldenburg: Richard Fleischner Reunites with Modernist Titans in Newport

NEWPORT, RI.- On a stretch of lawn at Chateau-sur-Mer, one of the first grand Bellevue Avenue mansions of the Gilded Age in Newport, Rhode Island, a subtle earthwork has quietly endured for more than half a century. When Richard Fleischner installed “Sod Maze" in Newport in 1974 as part of Monumenta, one of the earliest large-scale outdoor sculpture exhibitions in the world, the work helped redefine how art could exist in the landscape. A new exhibition returns to that moment, tracing both the origins and the afterlife of an installation that never truly left.

Richard Fleischner, Untitled, 2024, Epson ultrachrome professional archival print on Epson cold press natural paper, Edition of five (5). ©Richard Fleischner

Titled Full Circle: Richard Fleischner with David Smith, Christo, Claes Oldenburg, Barnett Newman and other Monumenta Artists, the exhibition revisits Monumenta through the career of Fleischner, now based in Providence, Rhode Island, and among the few surviving artists who participated in the landmark 1974 project. Anchored by “Sod Maze," the show is shaped by a recent gift of more than twenty related artworks, drawings, and studies donated by Fleischner to The Preservation Society of Newport County, which is producing and presenting the exhibition. Together, the materials reveal the thinking behind the work: its proportions, its dialogue with the site, and its sustained commitment to abstraction grounded in place.

Robert Murray, Windhover, (Working Model), 1970. Painted aluminum. ©Robert Murray

Original sketches, notes, and archival documents offer a rare view into the evolution of “Sod Maze," illuminating the conceptual through-lines that have guided Fleischner’s practice for decades. Rather than treating the work as a historical artifact, the exhibition frames it as a living project, one that continues to inform how the artist approaches form, space, and material.

Richard Fleischner, Untitled (Print Trio Red, Slate, Yellow), 2024, Epson ultrachrome, professional archival print on Epson cold press natural paper. Edition of five (5). ©Richard Fleischner

Full Circle places Fleischner in dialogue with fellow Monumenta artists including Christo, David Smith, Claes Oldenburg, Alexander Liberman, and Barnett Newman, reuniting their work in Newport for the first time since 1974. The pairing situates Fleischner within a generation of artists who pushed sculpture beyond the gallery, testing how it could occupy fields, lawns, and civic spaces, and how viewers might move through it rather than merely observe it.

Tony Rosenthal, Odyssey Study, 1973, Painted Steel. ©The Estate of Tony Rosenthal

The exhibition also looks beyond Monumenta, extending into Fleischner’s current practice. It includes a selection of encaustic works shown publicly for the first time, along with preparatory materials for his ongoing installation at Rowdy Meadow in Ohio. There, Fleischner’s work once again shares the landscape with leading contemporary figures such as Richard Serra, Anish Kapoor, and Andy Goldsworthy, underscoring the continuity of his artistic concerns across time and context.

Claes Oldenburg, Geometric Mouse, 1975, Acrylic paint on die-cut cardboard with stainless-steel wire, chains, and nickel-plated fasteners. ©Claes Oldenburg, Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York

In tracing the arc of Fleischner’s career, Full Circle connects Monumenta’s experimental spirit to the lasting relevance of modern and contemporary sculpture, suggesting that the questions raised in Newport more than fifty years ago about scale, site, and the experience of art outdoors remain very much alive.

Full Circle exhibition, Rosecliff Mansion, Newport, Rhode Island.

Full Circle is on view February 6 through May 3, 2026, at Rosecliff Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island.