Construction in Space

Construction in Space 

空間の構造

Artist
GABO, Naum
ガボ、ナウム
Birth Year
1890
Death Year
1977
Date
1959 
Technique, Material, Format
bronze, aluminum, plastic 
Dimension
81.3 x 55.9 x 68.6 cm 
Category
Sculpture or Three-dimensional Work by Foreign Artist 
Inventory Number
87-SF-001 

Russian-born Naum Gabo was a pioneer of abstract sculpture. While sculpture traditionally involved giving shape to a block of stone, wood, or clay, Gabo’s sculptures gave shape to space. The work does not seek to represent anything concrete, but instead subsists in the sensation aroused in its viewers. In this work, a fine-grained metal net creates a symmetrical curved surface. A spherical space is supported at the center of this copper-colored translucent membrane, which is open at the front, back, and sides. At the center are four octahedrons made up of two intersecting diamond-shaped acrylic plates, connecting diagonally between the upper and lower beams. The surfaces of the octahedrons are wrapped evenly in stainless steel spring wire, which makes them look like a glistening translucent membrane. Light and air seem to move back and forth between the inside and outside of this airy and open sculpture.
(NAKAMURA Naoaki)

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