My Acrylic Sculptures

Leonardo,Vol. 2 ,pp. 63-64. Pergamon Press 1969. Printed in Great Britain MY ACRYLIC SCULPTURES Manuel Fernandez Teijeiro* Since the world began light has been of the greatest importance to the life of man. It makes it possible for us to see objects, to know how the world works, to feel the passage of time, to appreciate the difference between day and night. It is the basis of spacetime concepts, so dear to the artists and scientists of today. Up to now light generally had a secondary function in the visual arts, that is to say, it permitted one to seea work of art by the reflection of light from it. Because of the three-dimensional quality of sculpture, the artist was forced to study carefully *Sculptor living at Maipu 663, p. 4 A, Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Received 16 April 1968.) the effects of light and shadow on the surfaces of his works. Plastic materials developed during the recent past now make it possible to incorporate light into a work of art. This possibility has not and cannot be ignored. While plastics have increased the range of artistic possibilities, they have at the same time posed new resthetic problems and new difficulties of execution. I believe Moholy Nagy and Naum Gab0 were among the first artists to use plastic materials. My work with acrylic resins, such as Lucite, began in 1960. Light, natural or artificial, now plays a primary role in my acrylic sculptures. I have had to revise all 5 Fig. 1. ‘Dinamic Totem’, acrylicplastic, height 96 cm, 1966. 63 64 Manuel Ferndndez Teijeiro Fig. 2. ‘Diaphend Form’, acrylicplastic, height 35 cm, 1966. theprevious zstheticprinciples thatIgained through many years of work with traditional sculptor’s materials such as wood, stone, iron and bronze. The thick acrylic blocks I employ, because of their transparency, allow me to introduce a multiple refraction of lines, planes and textures on the outer surfaces of my works. A spectator is confronted with an object that changes either with his position of viewing or with a movable source of light. Although these effects are present in opaque sculpture , transparency produces a different experience. I have so far used only sun or electric light projected onto the sculptures [I]. I use metal working tools such as saws, files and sandpaper to prepare the acrylic blocks. When several blocks are used, they arejoined with an adhesive made of chloroform and acrylic powder. When I begin a work I have to study three factors: its outer form, its inner form and the resulting luminous effects. I analyse the outer and inner forms, utilizing known laws of optics. However in a complex sculpture I have found that one must rely mostly on improvisation and imagination. A satisfactory object isonethatgivesme theimpression that it has conquered gravity. The volumes, planes and textures take on a phantasmagoric quality (Figs. 1 and 2). I plan to introduce kinetic effects into my acrylic sculptures, for the material lends itself readily to the exploitation of these effects [2]. A light source moved by an electric motor-driven mechanism can readily be installed in the base of my sculptures. REFERENCES 1. 2. C. Arean, Escultura Actual en Espaiia-Tendencias no Imitativas (Colecci6n Espacio) (Madrid: Ediciones Duero, 1967). Terminologysection,Leonard0 1,198(1968). ...