David H Press
I am dedicated to fully exploring the possibilities of three dimensional shapes formed from straight lines. Symmetry makes it easier to suspend a form in midair as the forces pull it in all directions equally. My recent work explores more assymetrical forms, incorporating more empty space as part of the definition of the shape of the piece. I’ve also concentrated on the creation of shapes that appear to float in space.
For this show, my concentration was on working with new materials. “A Double Ewe and Two Singles” is the latest of a series of tensegrity pieces using laser cut acrylic and braided wire.
After about a year of designing geometric shapes on a computer screen, cutting them in acrylic with a laser cutter and stringing them into tensegrity structures, I am happiest with this one. Using Adobe Illustrator, I stretched the pieces vertically until the shapes looked right. The name of the piece comes from the shapes of the 3 pieces of plastic used in the mobile. The Double Ewe shape holds one Ewe up and one down with the tensions from the wires, creating one tensegrity in gold and a separate one in silver. The fun here was designing each tensegrity to work with the minimum number of wires: two.