LA Monumental Brings Giant Sculptures by Nancy Rubins, Paul McCarthy, Matt Johnson to Montauk's Ranch

The Ranch in Montauk presents "LA Monumental," a summer exhibition featuring three monumental outdoor sculptures by Los Angeles-based artists Nancy Rubins, Paul McCarthy, and Matt Johnson. Rubins' "Friends of Pluto" uses decommissioned fishing boats sourced locally with founder Max Levai, spiraling into a totem. Johnson's "Meditating Figure" assembles shipping containers into a giant stick-figure in a pretzel pose. McCarthy's "Sisters" is a massive bronze from his Snow White-inspired series, created in 2013. The artists, aged 47 (Johnson), 73 (Rubins), and 80 (McCarthy), share a fascination with nostalgia and epic scale. Rubins discusses her evolution from using discarded coffee cups and Army surplus canvases to scrap airplane parts and boats, emphasizing material transformation and time. McCarthy recounts his path from an agricultural school to UCLA, his late start selling art (first sale around 1991-92), and his shift toward digital monumental works. Johnson describes his early tire installations at MICA, his use of shipping containers as "big bricks" representing capital, and notes his sculpture traveled about 12 million miles at sea before retirement.