I was commissioned by the Cleveland Public Library in partnership with Land Studio to create a 10 x 30 foot art wall for the South Brooklyn neighborhood branch as part of CPL’s SEE ALSO public art initiative. My work QUADRATALUX will be up for one year.
About the Art: An outgrowth from my architecture, the tenants I learned about making buildings; structure, composition and the grid, to name some, are relevant to making art as well and they are my guiding principles. In QUADRATALUX, I use geometry and color in an optically energetic composition to instill a feeling of kinetic motion and energy representing a joyous visual song and little piece of me that has been freed from pain.
About See Also: See Also is a library term for “Look Here”. The series brings innovative and thought-provoking temporary works of art each summer to the Eastman Reading Garden at Cleveland Public Library’s main branch and murals to neighborhood library branches throughout the city.
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I’m using the 3d medium as a new way to make 2d prints. This is a new artistic process for me. When I made a 3d printed Hash sign for the recent W/O Limits exhibition at the Artists Archives, https://andrewreach.com/escape-hash-3d-printed-sculpture…/ I first did renders of it to study the form. A lightbulb went off in my head and I realized I could take these renders, export them out and transform them into 2d cnc cut-out prints.
This hash sign was modeled in Blender and transformed into this 2d print.
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ESCAPE HASH II, 2022 uv cured inkjet on cnc cut-out acrylic/composite aluminum 45″h x 30.5″w, edition of 3
3d printed interconnected blocks Material: PLA Dimensions: Hash Sign 16″h x 17.25″w x 4″d Base 2.5″h x 13.25w” x 8″d
W/O Limits Exhibition
Beginning the assembly.
The final step of the assembly.
screenshot in blenderBlocks printed in Ultimaker 2+ 3d printers The excess material on the blocks is support material which was removed. In 3d printing, parts that overhang need this temporary support material.
My 3d printed tactile artwork ESCAPE HASH is being shown at W/O Limits: Art, Chronic Illness, & Disability at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve https://www.artistsarchives.org/event/w-o-limits/ I’m glad to contribute a touchable artwork for the exhibition, as it is one of many other accessibility and adaptive measures to be most inclusive of the disabled art viewing public.
I would approach the design, with an architectural/engineering methodology. The 3d printed sculpture is made from 74 individually printed interconnected blocks. The blocks are modular, designed to fit together in multiple ways. With a master block that all the blocks are derived from, its shape is a rhombohedron. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhombohedron
Strategies I employed to make it accessible to the visually impaired are 3 things; contrast, pattern and relief to make it tactile to the touch. The blocks alternate between hash symbols in negative relief and positive relief form. Primary colors and black and white provide bold contrast between the parts, making them more visible. The deep cuts into each block project shadows making it both tactile and with a sharply delineated pattern also making it more visible.
The blocks were printed at Think[box] at Case Western Reserve University. Each block took 11 hours to print at high resolution. Director of Prototyping, Ainsley Buckner ran 6 printers simultaneously for over two weeks. Thank you Ainsley!
Hidden between where the blocks connect to each other is a wooden dowel that fit into holes in the blocks. They are alignment pins, assuring that the blocks fit precisely together and align properly. To adhere them, I used 3m VHB Tape, a super strong, super thin double sided tape.
Here’s my work in the exhibition W/O Limits. To read about this special art exhibition, click here.
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ASTERISCUS III, 2021 uv cured inkjet on acrylic mounted to composite aluminum and cut out on a cnc router, dimensions variable, 54.5″h x 41.75″w overall, edition 1 of 3 photo courtesy Stuart Allen Pearl
OCTOLUX I, 2021 uv cured inkjet on acrylic mounted to composite aluminum, 47.5″ X 47.5″, edition 1 of 3 photo courtesy Stuart Allen Pearl
photo courtesy Stuart Allen Pearl
TEN BOXES ON A BOX, 2022 uv cured inkjet on acrylic mounted to composite aluminum and cut out on a cnc router dimensions variable, 72″h x 30″w overall, edition 1 of 3 photo courtesy Stuart Allen Pearl
