Amarillo Ramp, Texas

An earthwork by the artist Robert Smithson, consisting of a 140-foot diameter partial circle of rock which rises out of the level ground to a height of around 15 feet. The artificial lake in which the piece once emerged is now dry, and the sculpture is slowly eroding. Smithson was killed in a plane crash while surveying the site for this work, along with a photographer and the pilot. The crash site is a few hundred yards from the Ramp. The completion of the piece was performed by his widow, Nancy Holt, Richard Serra, and others, shortly after Smithson's death in 1973. Amarillo Ramp was commissioned by Stanley Marsh, a local ranch owner and bon-vivant who also commissioned the famous Cadillac Ranch and several other sculptures on the over 200 square miles of land he owned with his wife around Amarillo.