Untitled

Frederick Eversley, Untitled, 1974, polyester resin/cast, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1983.82

Eversley speaks of energy, space, time, and matter – concepts familiar to physicists and mathematicians and to an electrical engineer who gave up a career in the space program to make sculpture. The disc form of this untitled work is the result of the centrifugal process. Its highly polished surface concentrates ambient light in a bright central orb that shines like a distant star in the emptiness of space and draws the viewer into a cosmic place. But the parabolic shape also acts like a lens that captures light and the reflections of objects around it into a miniature black universe that dramatically alters relationships in the surrounding space.

African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012

Frederick Eversley’s pieces evoke mirrors or large optical lenses. He uses a process that involves spinning liquid plastic around a vertical axis until the centrifugal forces create a concave surface. Many of Eversley’s sculptures incorporate parabolic curves. These curves are found in a range of natural and man-made forms including suspension bridges, wind-blown sand dunes, and microwave reflectors, and Eversley is fascinated by their ability to concentrate and reflect energy into a single point.

“[The sculptures] act as … parabolic mirrors or reflectors which capture and focus … light energy onto an imaginary plane or point which appears to be suspended in space.” Artist’s statement, 1978

Title

Untitled

Artist

Frederick Eversley

Date

1974

Location

Not on view

Dimensions