Planning for the art works’ move began in 2024. “We went to Heizer’s ranch, where they were fabricated,” Vilardi said. Heizer, who is eighty-one and now resides mostly in New York, was long based in rural Nevada. (His magnum opus, the mile-plus-long “City,” in Garden Valley, took fifty years and some forty million dollars to make.) Vilardi has worked with Heizer for three decades; their first in-person meeting was on the ranch. “When I drove in, Michael walked out to the car, and he was carrying a slab of beef,” Vilardi recalled, extending his arms in front of him. “He goes, ‘You must be Joe.’ I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ He says, ‘Come on with me—we’re going to throw this on the smoker.’ ” They did, and ate it for dinner. “It was cattle he raised,” Vilardi said. “I think it was called beefalo—buffalo and cow. It was delicious.” (It was, in fact, Red Angus.) The most recent Heizer exhibit that Vilardi moved to Gagosian before this one involved five large rocks paired with tilted steel slabs, each work weighing more than twenty-six tons. “Never a dull moment with Michael,” Vilardi said.journey-inline-newsletterinline-newsletter