Lot’s Wife, 1969
Three photographs mounted on board
25 1/2 x 40 in., edition of 3
Collection of the artist

Before Kos made this work he had been using fiberglass and resins—in the style of the Los Angeles “finish fetish” artists—at Rene di Rosa’s ranch in Napa, wearing gloves and a mask to protect himself. Suddenly realizing that it didn’t make sense to use toxic materials in a sylvan environment, he purchased salt blocks —white, red, and yellow—drilled a hole through each,
and made two stacks, each twelve feet high. Grazing cows gradually licked them away. His
first site-specific work, Lot’s Wife marked Kos’s decisive break with traditional sculpture.
The title refers to the Biblical spouse who, on the run from Sodom and Gomorrah, could
not resist glancing back and was transformed into a pillar of salt.