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Riders on the east fork of the Red Line, between the Union Station and Rhode Island Avenue stops, have had privileged viewings of a very large, very lonesome red sculpture. The work, about 8 feet in diameter, appears to be composed of metal beams tied in an elaborate knot. “It just looks like a bunch of iron scrap,” says passenger Valerie Freeman. It sits in the tall grass of a fenced-in lot, between the Metro tracks and a gas station on New York Avenue NE. It has been there for about nine months, acquiring an overlay of graffiti, since its owner, developer Sam Rose, stowed it there for safekeeping during new construction at his Union Center Plaza complex. Rose, who bought the sculpture about 15 years ago, says he can’t remember the title or artist. When the project is done in September, he plans to move the sculpture back. “We may have to put a new coat of paint on it,” says Rose. David Morton