Static and Kinetic Abstract Sculpture "What is real is not the external form but the essence of things. Starting from this truth it is impossible for anyone to express anything essentially real by imitating its exterior surface." —Constantin Brancusi  

In the early 20th century, many avant-garde sculptors pushed the bounds of accepted modes of representation, abandoning faithfulness to the visible world in favor of abstraction. The question many artists asked was no longer how to reproduce the world as it appeared, but rather how to best express realities of life (sensed and theorized) through forms. Ever since, abstract sculpture has offered particularly fertile ground for experiments in shape, proportion, and technique, as well as for the embrace of non-traditional sculpting methods (apart from casting, welding, or direct carving), such as industrial manufacturing processes, plastic moulds, and even 3D printing. Modern strands of abstract sculpture include Concrete Art's mathematically precise and elegant forms, the strict geometry and forceful presence of Minimalist objects, and Kinetic Sculpture's embodiment of movement and physical forces.

Abstract Sculpture Antony Gormley Static I, 2007 3mm square section stainless steel bar 141 7/10 × 141 7/10 × 74 4/5 in 360 × 360 × 190 cm What do you see? What do you think it represents? What do you think the artist’s statement is?

EXPOSED EXPANSION WORKS, 2007 - 2008 www.antonygormely.com The EXPOSED EXPANSION WORKS reveal the space where the body was, rather than represent the body itself. The works are so open in structure as to be for all intents and purposes drawings in space, and each reveals an empty body-space at its core. Neither architecture nor anatomy, they are more like the random matrices found in fractal geometry. Though some body shapes may be immediately apparent among the froth-like polyhedrons, others will only manifest themselves slowly, over time, as we move around them. In these dematerialised works the bodies are free, lost in space, weightless, and with no internal determination. They appear as emergent zones: you cannot be sure whether the bubble matrix is produced by the body zone or the zone by the matrix. The bubble matrix series is the closest I get to Brancusi's notion that you can turn an object into light. He did it by polishing sculptures, whereas I have tried to do it by abandoning weight and mass and dissolving surface

Jason Middlebrook 1966 Born in Jackson, Michigan Lives and works in Hudson, NY Painted Plank and Cast Concrete Detergent Bottle 2008 Acrylic Paint on a Cherry plank with Concrete 84” H x 30” W x 14"D Once again a version of nature through my eyes (detail) 2011 acrylic on beech wood plank 78 x 60 x 3.5 inches Vertical Landscape Painting 2011 acrylic on black walnut plank 165.5 x 41.5 x 1.75 inches jasonmiddlebrook.com

Kinetic Sculpture Jeroen Verhoeven Virtue of Blue, 2010 502 solar silicon cell panels, hand blown glass bulb, steel, aluminium 59 1/10 × 43 3/10 × 43 3/10 in 150 × 110 × 110 cm What is it made from? Why do you think it’s made from this shadpe? What is the artist’s statement?

http://www. eco-question http://www.eco-question.com/virtue-of-blue-chandelier-by-jeroen-verhoeven Virtue of Blue, a chandelier playfully exploring an economy of light through innovative materials. Powered by sapphire-blue solar panel cells, the piece is intrinsically self-sustaining as it absorbs the energy of daylight to fuel its own illumination. The cells have been cut into the shapes of four different breeds of butterfly which seem to flutter around a central flame-like hand-blown glass bulb, their iridescent wings glinting in the light. In reality, butterflies physiologically power their own bodies, using their wings to absorb the rays of the sun in order to increase and then sustain their own body temperatures, necessary for their survival

How do these sculptures inspire you? Eco-friendly Representational materials Involvement of the viewer Metaphorical presents Confusion of how the viewer sees How it shows movement