The work of art is made of polyester resin and marble dust. Its complex installation captivated campus passers-by for hours. (Photo: Scott Soderberg, Michigan Photography.)

‘Behind the Walls’ debuted in May 2019 at the inaugural Frieze Sculpture festival in Manhattan, where it was on view in Rockefeller Center. With the Ann Arbor stage set, the pieces came back together. (Photo: Roberta Frey Gilboe.)

The work garnered international press and praise, with The New York Times calling it “the most instagrammed and photographed” work of the 2019 Frieze Sculpture festival in Manhattan. Hold on, you’ll see… (Photo: Roberta Frey Gilboe.)

‘Behind the Walls’ takes the place of Mark di Suvero’s Shang, which had been on long-term loan to the Museum since 2009. Shang was purchased by a private collector and was removed in October 2020. (Photo: Roberta Frey Gilboe.)

The enormous hands covering the figure’s face simultaneously block the outside world and beckon it to come closer, look harder, and think more deeply. (Photo: Roberta Frey Gilboe.)

J. Ira and Nicki Harris are active collectors of contemporary art, including outdoor sculptures. Several works by Plensa are a highlight of their collection; they have long admired the artist’s work. (Photo: Ashley Jones, SME Inspection.)

“Nicki and I are thrilled to help bring ‘Behind the Walls’ to UMMA,” says J. Ira Harris. “We are captivated by Plensa’s figures, and the moment we saw this work in Rockefeller Center, we knew that its  presence at U-M would spark important and powerful conversations about our global interconnectedness.” (Photo: Roberta Frey Gilboe.)

“Sometimes, our hands are the biggest walls,” Jaume Plensa has said of the work. “They can cover our eyes, and we can blind ourselves to so much of what’s happening around us … To me, it’s an obsession to create a beautiful object with a message inside.” (Photo: Patrick Young, Michigan Imaging.)

“More than almost any other artist working today, Plensa’s work argues for art’s capacity to produce powerfully a sense of public place and expression — to jolt us into thought and heightened perception,” says UMMA Director Christina Olsen. (Photo: Patrick Young, Michigan Imaging.)

The Harrises are substantial donors to many activities at U-M, including endowing the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach position currently held by Jim Harbaugh, the lead gift for the football locker room, and gifts supporting the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Most recently, they, along with a small group of donors, helped to support the acquisition of Mark di Suvero’s Orion (pictured here) for UMMA’s permanent collection. (Photo: Patrick Young, Michigan Imaging.)