Kinetic Artworks and Transformables: Mobilo-Sculptures and Polysculptures

Leonardo, Vol. 13, pp. 36-37. Pergamon Press 1980. Printed in Great Britain KINETIC ARTWORKS AND AND POLYSCULPTURES TRANSFORMABLES: MOBILO-SCULPTURES Henri Gabriel* 1. Every two years the Belgian Association of Art Galleries sponsorsa large exhibition at the Palais des Beaux Arts at Brussels. Here one can see works by artists who are generally represented by gallery members of the Association . The gallery where I exhibit my works proposed that I submit two sculptures for the 1977 exhibition at the Palais, at the time when the opening was only about six weeks away. My first idea was to submit two mobiles suspended by cord from a ceiling. But this was impractical for the exhibition at the Palais. I therefore decided to make a transformable sculpture [I] of two identical parts. (This was the first time I had made a transformable [2].I call the type I have made since then Polysculptures and their transferableparts elements.) In this instance,each element consisted for two rows of eight vertical polished aluminum rods (diam 3.5 mm) inserted into a clear Plexiglas base. Figure 1 showstwo arrangementsof a Polysculpture prepared in 1978 consisting of four elements of the type employed in the pair exhibited at the Palais in 1977. Before beginning a transformable, I take into account that the elements should be of suitable proportions that enableone to make well-balanced and integrated arrangements of them. Furthermore, they should be conveniently transferable by viewers and easily maintained. I feel that my Polysculptures follow logically from my earlier Op and kinetic art works on which I reported earlier in Leonardo [3-51. At the 1977 Palais exhibition numerous viewers responded to my Polysculpture by arranging the elements to suit their taste, which permitted them to understand better the visual characteristics I had chosen for the work. Their response encouraged me to continue with this type of transformable, and since then I have made several of them, each with either three or four elements. L . The steps I took to use transparent colored instead of colorless Plexiglas may seem minor, but it proved to be important, especially for works made up of sheets of Plexiglas. I became fascinated by the variety of the delicate colors obtained by superposing the Plexiglas sheets. I found particularly striking the enrichment of color resulting from the passage of light from the edges of the sheets. Figure 2 provides an example of two arrangements of a Polysculpture made of two elements, each consisting of *Sculptor, 121 Rue Masui, 1000Brussels, Belgium. (Based on a text in French) (Received 24 Jan. 1979.) Fig. I . Untitled, Polysculpiure,four elements; each element 40 x 6 x 24cm; aluminum rods, diam. 3.5mm; clear Plexiglas base, thickness 5 mm, 1978. (Photo: Rik Moriau, Brussels, Belgium) 36 Kinetic Artworks and Transformables 37 Fig. 2. Untitled, Polysculpture, two elements; each element 40 x 3. H. Gabriel, Mes mobiles et ObJetsoPtico-sPatiaux, Leonard0 16 x 16cm; nhite translucent Plexiglas sheet, thickness 3mm; clear Plexiglas base, thickness 5 mm,1978.(Photo: Rik Moriau, Brussels, Belgium) 3, 1 (1970); My Op Art Objects and Optico-Spatial Mobiles, in Kinetic Art: Theory and Practice, F. J. Malina, ed. (New York: Dover, 1974) p. 62. 4. H. Gabriel, Op Art Drawing, Leonardo 4, 149 (1971). 5. H. Gabriel, Op Art Pictures in Plastic, Leonardo 10, 133 (1977). 6. E. Bergen, Kinetische Kunst van Henri Gabriel, Periscoop (Mar. 1967). five white translucent Plexiglas forms and a transparent Plexiglas support plate. The two elements have identical forms, and one element is the mirror image of the other. ...