Bathsheba Grossman: Mathematical Sculptures
Artist(s):
Title:
- Mathematical Sculptures
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 2008
Category:
Artist Statement:
I am often asked whether my designs originate in logic or intuition, and the answer must be both: my intuition is guided by logic, and it seeks order and symmetry. The sculptures come into existence as visualizations, which are translated into virtual 3D models. They enter the physical world by various computermediated manufacturing processes (in the case of these pieces, 3D metal printing). Lastly, they are hand finished by assembling, burnishing, or any other craft methods that may be required.
Thus the process moves backward in history: from imminent idea to high technology to hand-finished metal. Because the originals of my work are data, they transcend location, medium, and time, and they move us away from the history-bound, privilegedoriginal model of art making. Art can now take its value from its inherent nature without reference to time, place, or artificial scarcity.
We are standing at the Gutenberg moment for sculpture, where to be digital is to be nameless yet immortal. These designs honor the emergence of sculpture as a digital medium, sounding a timeless note of purity and symmetry at this pivotal moment in the history of art.
The material of these sculptures is a sintered steel-bronze composite metal manufactured by Ex One’s Prometal process, then hand-finished in my shop. Software includes Rhinoceros, Mathematica, Surface Evolver, Materialise Magics, and Perl scripts written by me. The Gyroid, Schwartz surfaces and the Snub 24-Cell are purely algorithmic; the remaining three designs are non-computed (“handmade” CAD models).
Other Information:
Ora, Metatrino and Soliton
Bathsheba Grossman
Gyroid
Bathsheba Grossman
Alan Schoen
Schwartz’ D-Surface
Bathsheba Grossman
Snub 24-Cell
Bathsheba Grossman
Henry Cohn, Microsoft
