The Rising Universe Sculpture

Also known as the Shelley Fountain, the "Rising Universe" sculpture isn't for the faint of heart. It's a towering mass of energy in the form of a spherical globe. I guess you could say that this sculpture could also be labeled as a form of kinetic art because of its interesting mechanical nature. The sphere is built to condense with more than 6 tons of pumped water from the artwork's base. Once the quota has been filled, the once-descending spherical mass then jets upward, pouring all the stored-up water out from below it. The fountain sculpture was made in 1992 to make way for the bicentenary of the birth of Percy Bysshe Shelley, a famous poet. The structure is located at Horsham, West Sussex, England for all to see and appreciate.

The artwork was made by Angela Conner, a renowned sculptor. Despite its large and daunting size, many initially saw it as a sign of distress. The piece was originally planned for the city of Cambridge, but the public protested its construction there. In 2006, the water of the fountain was switched off for conservation. Despite its usage of recycled water, it loses about 180 gallons a day to filtration and evaporation. Although it was soon switched on again, it had to be fenced off in 2009 due to hydraulic repairs. Despite all of this, the creativity involved with making such a monument has to be commended, so I believe Conner did a marvelous work with fabricating such a one-of-a-kind work of art (that flies off water!).

Read more »

Experimental Sculpture Evolution : Yaacov Agam's Journey

Not many visual artists are known from the holy land, but Israeli sculptor Yaacov Agam stands out as one of the most influential experimental sculptors today. Agam began his life as Yaakov Gipstein on May 11, 1928. As a young boy, he was already fond of aesthetic elements regularly found everyday, such as the bright colors of cityscapes and building designs. He eventually grew up into a true-blue lover of the arts, studying at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. He also studied later on with Johanned Itten at the Kunstgewerbe Schule in Switzerland (where he moved to after his previous schooling). Currently Agam resides in Paris, where he has a daughter and two sons.

Sculpture by Yaacov Agam - Photography by Sheynhertz-Unbayg

At the beginning of his artistic career, Agam already had a knack for experimentation of color and geometrical contour. He often worked with sculptural fountains commissioned by various institutions. His first solo exhibit was at the Galerie Graven in 1953. Succeeding this exhibit was a smaller exhibition of 3 works at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles. At the Le Mouvement exhibition at the Galerie Denise René, he was finally able to establish himself as a pioneer in kinetic art along with some other famous art personalities such as Pol Bury and Jean Tinguely. To this day, Agam loves to integrate his works with a flurry of light and sound. His captivating structural artworks often engage onlookers into an interactive participation. Some of his best projects for us, include the "Double Metamorphosis III" and the invention of a type of print called the "Agamograph", which makes use of lenticular printing to display different images depending on the angle upon which it is viewed.

Read more »

Approach at Glance : Gas Sculpture and Its Potential for Art Interactivity

What is gas sculpture? Have you ever heard of it? Today, people are slowly but surely conceiving new and innovative ways of creating art. Sculpture however, was founded on the basis of concrete and tangible substances. It was stretched many times with the emergence of water sculpture, sound sculpture and kinetic sculpture, however these days there are even stranger discoveries that the art world has got to look out for. Gas sculpture was first proposed by Joan Miro, but has extended itself to become a worldwide question- how can one sculpt gas?

Photography by Black Squirrel

At the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, there exists a prime example of the new media. A pond is surrounded by an array of tiny nozzles that can be switched on to produce a fine, billowing fog. Considered to be a sculpture that continuously changes in shape, this artwork is supposed to be affected by the various surroundings that change as well, such as wind currents, plant life and water rushes.

There are other sculptures out there that already make use of gas as an aesthetic element, such as Jean-Paul Riopele's L Joute, which makes use of fog nozzles along with its fire jets and fountains.

There is currently a growing number of art enthusiasts who are trying to get involved with the evolution of gas sculpture. Some museums, like the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh are planning to install gas-related sculpture art for interactivity and art appreciation among the youth.

Read more »