Conrad Tao

“Stones”

In 2020, on most days, I took a walk north along the Hudson River. About two-thirds of the way up is a bank of mysterious stones. Stones stacked on top of each other, forming elegant, gravity-defying piles. I'll never forget the first time I encountered these stones, on my first walk up the river. The feeling of another person, the feeling of another, was very evident. When I first came across these stones, I wasn't sure if this was the effort of many people, or just one, but regardless — the feeling of somebody's hands, someone desiring to express, someone desiring to leave a trace of themselves — that was so palpable. So palpable, and so moving, especially at that time, when it was difficult to connect with people. And as I kept taking these walks, throughout the summer and fall, I observed change within the stones. Sometimes, they would nearly disappear, only a few shallow piles left that you could see if you looked hard enough. Sometimes they would evolve and change.

I later learned that these stones were the work of a local self-taught artist named Uliks Gryka. I was excited to learn this information, but there was a part of me that didn't necessarily care that much about who it was on the other side of these sculptures, because, at least, at the time I discovered the stones, they were unmistakable but fairly anonymous. Gryka wasn't leaving a signature — I believe he has in the past, but when I encountered the work, he wasn’t. There was something in that too. There was something about the simplicity and the confident humility of leaving the work there, to be seen, to be discovered, to be experienced; perhaps the trace was enough, and credit was secondary.

This piece was written for Johnny Gandelsman, in December of 2020, and Johnny specifically asked for a piece that was reflecting on the, uh, [cue frantic hand-waving] recent time period, and this piece is a tribute to those Sisyphus Stones, to Uliks Gryka's Sisyphus Stones. It is a love letter to them, a note of appreciation for what they provided for me during this most tumultuous time. —Conrad Tao

“Stones” was generously commissioned by Bay Chamber (Rockport, ME)