Linear sculptures!

Here are a few artists that have created some amazing linear sculptures.

Stacie Tamaki creates horse sculptures using a single piece of twine (or wire).  Her sculptures are much like the horses created by the artist who is features at the witherspoon museum.  I love the sketchy quality of the horse.  It creates the idea of movement by emphasising the idea of horse structure.

stacie tamaki

Michael Todd is a cross discipline artist that creates using wood, bronze, clay and paint.  His influences include primitive African sculpture and Japanese zen.  I really enjoy his use of balance in his pieces.  His bronze piece, Jazz, I think is aptly titled.  The use of shape and balance in his wood piece below really characterize the Japanese influence.

michael todd, jazz vii, bronze

michael todd, MCT 1010038, wood

Andy Goldsworthy likes to emphasis the relationship between man and nature by creating and documenting sculptures in nature that the elements will soon "destroy".  He collects things native to an area, like sticks, stones, or flowers, and arranges them in a way that is not normally found in the natural world.

andy goldsworthy, framing lake

David Lee Brown is a linear sculptor who utilizes steel tubing.  The sculpture below is outside the Fort Lauderdale Airport and right down the street from my old house in Florida.  He has twisted his linear configuration to give it flight, and the materiality of the piece makes the use of reflected and refracted light an important element.  I always wondered how the piece was kept so shiny, given it's proximity to the ocean.

david lee brown, steel

david lee brown, steel

Naum Gabo has made the piece below using a curved perspex frame and nylon string.  He is considered to a constructivist artist because the form follows a social commentary.  This piece reminds me of the theory of universal expansion, because it seems like it could continue to grow and still maintain it's form.  Although the nylon strings all connect in the center, none of them appear tangled.  Each string is purposeful and maintains a distinct function.

naum gabo, linear construction in space no. 2

naum gabo, linear construction in space no. 2

Judd Turner is a working sculptor who sells many of his pieces as wall hangings.  I really liked the movement of the piece below, because it reminded me of the movement of water in a stream as it flowed around rocks.  When I saw the name of the piece I had to include it.

Judd Turner, stones in a stream, welded steel rod

Tea Petrovic is a conceptual artist who's influences include Naum Gabo.  She works with creating different types of high heels, but focuses on the form of the heal.  The rest of the shoe is based off her idea for the heel.  She does not include color in her work because she feels like it would detract from the overall conception of the form.

tea petrovic, plastic and wire

Aaron Kellner uses a vast understanding of cross disciplines to come up with inspiration for his puzzle-like pieces.  He enjoys the sciences - physics, chemistry, and biology and uses those ideas in his building block sculptures.  He also uses balance, proportion, symmetry and scale to define connections between space and form.

aaron kellner

And finally, one of my favorite sculptures, claes oldenburg.  He definitely does not practice in strictly linear terms, but his sculptures always make me laugh.  Scale is the most important part of his pieces.

claes oldenburg, free stamp, cleveland, ohio



claes oldenburg

claes oldenburg