Fountain, 2010

Installation view: Hammer Museum, 2010, Photo: Courtesy Greg Lynn FORM
Collection

Polyethylene, wood, water
191 x 252 x 395 cm


Fountain is a complex sculpture built from a combination of commercially manufactured rotomolded plastic children's toys with specially designed rotomolded plastic "Blobwall" bricks designed by Greg Lynn FORM. Both objects were digitally laser scanned and imported into the three-dimensional modeling software Maya. Using a technique of "animation snapshots" along curvilinear paths, the Blobwall bricks were arrayed in two spiral patterns, one clockwise and the other counter clockwise, and the shark toys that spout water were arrayed in a third counter clockwise spiral pattern.

The pool of water is bounded by a perimeter array of whale toys. The intersections one-against-another of each of these individual objects was defined as a series of curves in the digital model. Each of these curves was exported as a cutting path to an articulated arm cutting robot. Each part was placed on a custom made jig and uniquely cut by the robot. The custom cut parts were positioned and manually heatwelded one-to-another. Flexible plastic conduit hoses were threaded throughout the entire assembly and connected to brass spray nozzles. After complete assembly the entire Fountain was spray painted white. The fountain rests on a fiberglass coated wood skid that serves as the water pool and connects to a separate reservoir with the pumps and manifolds.


*1964 in Ohio, USA | Living and working in Los Angeles, USA
Artist's website