Like his Coenties Slip herms, Indiana’s Vinalhaven constructions were created from locally found materials. In New York the artist collected old mortise-and-tenon beams to create his sculptures, whereas in Maine he turned to driftwood, illustrated by A Life on Vinalhaven, which consists of a narrow, severely weathered log. Although this gives the work a distinct Vinalhaven character, it shares elements in common with the artist’s herms of the early 1960s. Like many of the New York works it is flanked by wheels, in this instance twelve on each side, the most found in any of Indiana’s constructions, and it has a peg affixed to the front of the sculpture, between the bottom two wheels, as seen in works including Cuba (1960–62), Zig (1960–62), and Chief (1962).
