September 30 - December 4, 2016
Sculptor Bruce Beasley (born 1939) realized the revolutionary acrylic and bronze sculptures on display in this exhibition, shown here for the first time at an American museum, through digital processes such as computer-aided design and three-dimensional printing.
The Coriolis and Torqueri works, created during the last three years, developed from the artist’s desire to give expression and meaning to twisting and bending shapes that were impossible to realize through conventional processes of sculptural production. The term “Coriolis” refers to the effects of the earth’s rotation on the movement of air in the atmosphere and water in the oceans. “Torqueri” derived from a Latin root, refers to the action of twisting, bending, or distorting.
Since 1961, when Beasley was selected to contribute to the seminal exhibition The Art of Assemblage at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), he has explored abstraction in sculpture, a language he describes as “mute and silent.” The artist is inspired to create his sculptures through his observations of nature and elemental forces. With keen intelligence, voracious curiosity, and indefatigable persistence, he has experimented with shape, medium, and process to find the expressive possibilities of form. Through his creative problem solving and challenge of conventional limitations, Beasley has made substantial contributions to fine art and material sciences. During a successful career of more than five decades exploring changing visual vocabularies and creating new languages in sculpture, Beasley has established himself as one of America’s most innovative and Promethean contemporary artists.
By 2013, when he began the Coriolis series, Beasley had already used the computer for over twenty-five years. As disruptive technologies have exploded in the last two decades, he discovered that computer-based processes enabled him to solve a greater range of aesthetic challenges while increasing his productivity and reducing costs. The Coriolis and Torqueri sculptures are the latest of Beasley’s works employing digital technologies in three-dimensional design and production, a flourishing field at the vanguard of developments in art and science.
Internationally known and widely admired, Bruce Beasley is one of the most eminent sculptors working in the Bay Area. His life, work, and career have been the subject of scores of exhibitions, books, articles, and interviews, and were the subject of a major retrospective at the Oakland Museum of California in 2005.
The exhibition, guest curated by Dr. Hilarie Faberman, includes a fully illustrated catalogue with an essay on the Coriolis and Torqueri series and an interview with the artist.