Richard Mock and Alan Katzman
A Mountain of Gold

In October, 1973, Mock created A Mountain of Gold by draping yards of gold awning around trees and ground at the grave site of Buffalo Bill on Lookout Mountain, in Denver, Colorado. Writer Alan Katzman collaborated by reading a poem he has written about Bill Cody in which he demythologized the hero by presenting him as a showman, drunkard, destroyer of buffalo, and ultimately a “prisoner of Lookout Mountain.” The piece was recreated at 112 by means of Katzman’s poem which was written out on a large clear plastic sheet. Mock’s slides, taken at the site, were flashed on the plastic sheet which hung across a section of the space. He also exhibited a floor installation of wood pieces.

Excerpted from Brentano, R., & Savitt, M. (1981). 112 Workshop, 112 Greene Street: History, artists & artworks. New York: New York University Press.