While on our recent trip to Missouri, we stopped at Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis.  This magnificent space hosts so, so many wonderful sculptures including this iconic behemoth called The Way by Russian-born artist Alexander Liberman.

Composed on site in 1980, the piece is comprised of over 18 salvaged steel oil tanks welded together.  It’s columns echo monumental Greek architecture.  Up close, you’ll see that a number of the oil tanks are crushed to varying degrees to further demonstrate the “weight” of the sculpture.  In fact, you might want to call this The Weigh by Alexander Liberman, because this thing is massive!

Here’s the stats:

Length: 780 inches (65 feet)

Width: 1224 inches (102 feet)

Height: 1200 inches (100 feet)

Weight Single salvaged steel oil tank:  (Math alert) Assuming it’s 3/16th inch thick steel, then that weights 7.66 pounds per square foot.  A cylinder with with a radius of 5 feet and a length of 40 feet would have an area of 691 square feet. 691 * 7.66 = 5,293 pounds empty

Weight of entire sculpture: 5,293 x 18=95,274 pounds

Conclusion: The Way by Alexander Liberman weighs just a little more than me.

Love, Jeanette DePatie (AKA The Fat Chick)