Angela Bulloch Heavy Metal Stack of Four: Red Monster, 2017
Mild steel, paint
240 x 110 x 90 cm (94 1/2 x 43 1/4 x 35 3/8 in)
125 x 125 cm (49 1/4 x 49 1/4 in) (base plate)
125 x 125 cm (49 1/4 x 49 1/4 in) (base plate)
Produced on occasion of Angela Bulloch's 2017 solo exhibition Heavy Metal Body, the work is composed of four assembled geometrical figures known as polyhedra. The artist's ongoing series of Stacks examines the connections formed by the convex polyhedra of their structure, together with their associations of colors and the exhibition space. Each sculpture from the series offers a distinct rhythm created by the variations in shape, size and color of its elements.
Here, the surface of the vertically assembled rhomboid shapes, painted in a combination of light, bright or dark colors (Luminous Red, Beige Red, and Red Brown) creates an optical illusion of pushing and pulling planes. Conceived and designed within a digital imaging program, each superimposed rhombus appears distinct while at the same time relating to the others. From one side the irregular aspect dominates, while from another the impression of a certain totemic regularity prevails.
Drawing on her previous experiments with geometrical distortion, Bulloch has expanded the range of forms and sizes of her Metal Stacks. The title and appearance of Heavy Metal Stack of Four (four rhomboid elements organized in a pyramid-like shape) invoke the idea of an anthropomorphic presence. By changing the appearance of the column in accordance to one’s point of view, Bulloch plays with our perception of sculpture. In order to envision the work in its entirety the viewer has to turn around it, which at times seems graphic—almost abstract—shifting between two and three dimensions. Here, the artist transfers major themes of Minimalism into the present, and more specifically the aesthetic exploration of objects’ influence on spatial perception.
Here, the surface of the vertically assembled rhomboid shapes, painted in a combination of light, bright or dark colors (Luminous Red, Beige Red, and Red Brown) creates an optical illusion of pushing and pulling planes. Conceived and designed within a digital imaging program, each superimposed rhombus appears distinct while at the same time relating to the others. From one side the irregular aspect dominates, while from another the impression of a certain totemic regularity prevails.
Drawing on her previous experiments with geometrical distortion, Bulloch has expanded the range of forms and sizes of her Metal Stacks. The title and appearance of Heavy Metal Stack of Four (four rhomboid elements organized in a pyramid-like shape) invoke the idea of an anthropomorphic presence. By changing the appearance of the column in accordance to one’s point of view, Bulloch plays with our perception of sculpture. In order to envision the work in its entirety the viewer has to turn around it, which at times seems graphic—almost abstract—shifting between two and three dimensions. Here, the artist transfers major themes of Minimalism into the present, and more specifically the aesthetic exploration of objects’ influence on spatial perception.