Dining Out On The Drawing Center Naming Local THANKSGIVING REOPENS STREETS November 2012 November

LENS MASTER Sculptor Fred Eversley Creates Geometric Wonders November 2012 1 Meet the Master of the Lens

Fred Eversley creates sleek geometric works. At first they may appear simple, but upon inspection, mysteries are revealed.

By Marilyn Holstein Photographs by Maria Larsson

he first time I met Fred was at the ArtMRKT in Bridgehampton last summer. I was intrigued by his sculpture, a blue sphere with a seemingly endless Tcenter. Wanting to know more about Fred and his work, we arranged to meet a few weeks later at his building in SoHo. We spoke about his early years in Brooklyn, in the Village, and his move to California, as well as the ways in which his art has evolved. Turns out that Fred’s engineering degree -- and his Under ideal circumstances, Fred can create a piece in a month. “Green roles with NASA and the Smithsonian Institution -- play a big Eye,” 1982, was photographed in Fred’s SoHo gallery and captures an part in creating these incredible geometric masterpieces. image of outside the garden. Media: polyester. Size: 20” x 20” x 7”. How did you get involved in the arts scene? It begins on the West Coast. The father of one of my frater- nity brothers, Frank Wyle, president of Wyle Laboratories, of- fered me a job in California in 1963, when I had just graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a degree in electrical engineering. I decided to share a place with another fraternity brother, Paul Strauss. At lunchtime we would look for apartments in Manhat- Fred bought his building in SoHo in 1980. “I knew the area from when I was a kid, I hung out in the Village a lot. The artists started moving in the 50s, by the 70s, there was a fairly good crowd of artists and art galleries, a great place to be. I love that SoHo is extremely convenient in that everything I tan Beach, but by 6 pm. -- when we could both return to see the need is within a short walk.” The place provides him with an ideal location for reaching national and international audiences. “It keeps me in the thick apartments -- they were all rented. This went on for days until of the art scene,” he says. “And most of all, I love New York.” On the table above is his “Red Arch 2,” 1980. Media: Laminated Acrylic. Size: 38” x15” x 33”. a bartender friend pulled us aside and said, “I don’t know how to say this, but no one is renting to you because there are no At that time, what materials were you using? Blacks in Manhattan Beach.” When I was on crutches, I could not do sculpture or very Upcoming Exhibits: We learned that the only beach communiy where Blacks much of anything. I could carry a camera around my neck, so I were accepted was Venice Beach. We moved there and it ended did a lot of photography. So when I moved into sculpture, I was Fred Eversley up being the smartest thing that ever happenend to me attempting to make photographic sculpture that consisted of 5 color transparencies, cast into polyester cubes, so the photo- Here’s a list of upcoming shows in the U.S. and abroad: graphic images became part of the essence of the sculpture. What was Venice Beach like in the 1960s? To produce flawless sculptures, Fred discards most of his castings. About • Sept. 28 to Nov. 3 -- Solo Exhibition – David Richard Gallery, 544 S. It had the remnants of the Beats, this is where they had It was back-lit using mini bulbs a half-inch long that were 95 percent of the work is in the cutting, sanding and polishing. “Indio Guadalupe St., Santa Fe, N.M., 855-983-9555, davidrichardgallery.com emigrated to from New York. There were beatnik coffee houses Eye,” 1981, was photographed in front of Fred’s private SoHo studio, designed for the Apollo mission. where artists congregated at night. The L.A. artists were just capturing the light of the street. Media: polyester. Size: 20” x 20” x 7”. • Sept. 28 to Dec. 31 -- “African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, beginning to move here. This was the beginning of the hippies. You used bulbs that were designed for Apollo missions? Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, “ Muscarelle Museum of Art, Jamestown How do you move from engineering to art? Yes. I spent four or five months trying to perfect this. My Rd., Williamsburg, VA, 757-221-2700, web.wm.edu/muscarelle Did you meet any artists? Shortly after I began my career in engineering, Kennedy next-door neighbor, the great LA painter, John Altoon, saw me In the late 60’s, the L.A. art scene was relatively small, and was assassinated and Johnson became president. He did two trying to do this and he wasn’t interested at all in my concept of • Oct. 21 to Mar. 11, 2013 -- “Now Dig This! Art & Black 1960-1980” it was possible to know everyone. Venice was the epicenter of things almost overnight: He increased our war in Vietnam by a incorporating photography, but he was fascinated by my experi- - MoMA PS1- NY, 22-25 Jackson Ave. (at 46th Ave.), Long Island City, the major artists (Bell, Irwin, Moses, Altoon, McCracken, Tur- thousand-fold, and he increased the race to beat the Russians to ments in cast plastics. N.Y., 718-784-2084momaps1.org rell, Diebenkorn) and we all lived within five minutes of each the moon a thousand-fold. My company was the most important So I started looking at my experiments, mostly multicolor • Oct. 22 to Nov. 3 -- Fred Eversley Studio open house, by other and saw each other often. At a party, I a met a sculptor aerospace testing company in America, and I ended up heading rectangular and cylindrical shapes, and then tried to adjust. And appointment, 212-431-4222 who was getting a M.F.A. at UCLA. I got into art physically by the Gemini and Apollo laboratories that would test products I purposely starting working with just the casting shapes. I in- helping her put the finishing touches on some show pieces. that went on both the Gemini and Apollo missions. I spent four vented the technique of centrifugally casting multiple layers of • Jan. 1, 2013 to Mar. 1, 2013 – Solo Exhibition – Imargo Gallery, 45- years working crazy hours beating the Russians to the moon. colored polyester resin into a cylindrical mold rotating around a 450 Hwy. 74, Palm Desert, CA, 760-776-9890, imagogalleries.com When I had my accident, we had just completed a major horizontal axis. I cut the resulting cylinders into various shapes So she convinced you to become a full-time artist? • Apr. 9, 2013 to Jun. 15, 2013 – “Luminous! Dynamic! Space and Not really. In January 1967 I had auto accident that put me lab, so the timing was right for me on a professional level. So which I then highly polished. I started assembling a small body Vision in Art , From Today Back to 1913,” Reunion des Musees on crutches for nearly a year. I took the opportunity to retire I started making art. I pretended I was still an engineer, and I of works, each about three inches in diameter. Nationaux-Grand Palais, 254/256 rue de Bercy, Paris, France, rmn.fr/ from engineering at age 25, and to start making art. worked 80, 90, 100 hours a week. Continued on next page

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Continued from previous page A collector, Diana Zlotnick, came over to visit, saw my work, loved it and bought a couple of pieces. She was my first Behind the collector, which was very important to me that someone else found my work important. I was invited to put a couple of piec- es in a group show at a gallery and a very important collector, Scenes Fred Weisman, came before the opening of the show, bought them, stuck them in his pocket, and walked out of the gallery. So the show opened with no pieces of mine since they were Fred’s works range from small sculptures sold and taken home. One thing led to another and I ended up showing in several group shows in L.A. to large-scale outdoor commissions. So how does he create these masterpieces? What types of art are you working on at this point? Still the small abstract pieces? Yes. I managed to get into several shows in local museums. Cutting, Sanding, and Polishing I got my first large-scale sculpture into a very important group Most of Fred’s pieces are made from cast polyester, show, “The Plastic Presence.” organized by the Milwaukee Art which is colored and then centrifugally cast into parabolic Museum, that actually premiered at the Jewish Museum in New forms. The parabolic castings are then cut, sanded and York in 1969. The Milwaukee museum bought the sculpture, polished into the final sculptural shapes. my first museum collection. So that was my introduction to the Fred has also made several large-scale outdoor com- New York City art world. missions using mirror polished stainless steel, bronze and Shortly after, on the advice of Bob Rauschenberg, I came crystal clear flowing mineral oil, including the Entrance back to New York with a small attache case of these small Sculptures for the Miami International Airport and the IRS pieces to show to his first art dealer, Betty Parsons. She wasn’t Headquarters in Washington, D.C. interested in showing that work since it wasn’t the type of work “My sculpture is all about energy -- In the very broadest she showed, but loved them and bought two pieces for her own sense of the word, and the very narrow sense of the word. collection. My pieces are parabolas, which is the perfect concentrator I walked out of there with enough courage to march up to of all forms of energy, including light energy. 77th Street to see Leo Castelli, who at the time was the most “The parabola is the perfect mathematical shape, in that important dealer in New York City. As I’m waiting, some guy it focuses all energy impinging on its concave front surface came out of the back room and demanded to see what I was Fred photographed behind his “lens” titled “Ethereal,” from 1971 at the to a single perfect point in space. This creates the only opening of his solo show “Four Decades: 1970-2010” at William Turner going to show Castelli. I showed him my work and he said Gallery, Bergamot Station Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA, Fall 2011 petition for the entrance sculpture for the Miami-Dade Inter- perfect fish eye lens, a 360-degree lens. I use the parabolic Castelli will like it, but won’t offer you anything. I went and in conjunction with the Pacific Standard Time program in Southern national Airport. The 35-foot-tall sculpture “Parabolic Flight,” shape to create the making of kinetic art in a non-kinetic saw Castelli, he was very encouraging but did not offer me California. Media: polyester. Size: 20” x 20” x 4”. -- my first large scale exterior piece -- was installed in 1980. form through the natural movement of light and natural anything. The sculpture was a big hit, my most famous piece, both locally movement of people, the viewer moving and the light On the way out of the gallery, this guy says, “I’m starting wondering where I was. The entire curatorial staff had been and internationally and formed the basis of my invitations to do changing. my own gallery in SoHo in the fall, so come see me. I want to assembled at 1 p.m. I literally ran – could not get a cab, it was many important commissions. “The parabola also has identical acoustical and visual show you.” And this turned out to be Ivan Karp of OK Harris. pouring rain and back then I was young – so I met with the I am presently a finalist for the large Iconic Sculpture for the properties. This causes another whole level of kinetics since assembled staff who were pissed off that I was many hours late LA-Metro’s terminus station facing the Pacific Ocean. your eyes and your ears are separated by a certain number So this is all happening on one day? and they asked if I could be ready for a show of museum-scale of inches so it’s impossible to be at the focal point both Yes. February 2, 1970. I was on top of the world, and as I pieces by June 1. But you bought a building in SoHo in 1980. Why did you acoustically and visually at the same time. walk by the Whitney Museum I decide to stop by to see if could select this neighborhood? “My laminated acrylic and acrylic / metal sculptures em- see Marsha Tucker, the curator. She invited me upstairs, went What did you say? I knew the area from when I was a kid, when I hung out in ploy clear acrylic prisms placed in between the opaque ele- crazy about my work, and called the entire professional staff I totally fibbed. I said I had pieces in California. I jumped on the Village a lot. The artists started moving in the 50s, by the ments to refract the sunlight into rainbow spectra which is into office to look at my small sculptures. a plane that night and started making museum-scale pieces. In 70s, there was a fairly good crowd of artists and art galleries, a cast upon the environs, a celebration of solar energy.” The next day, she called up early in the morning and asked five months I managed to make pieces for the Whitney shows great place to be. me to show up at 1 p.m. if I’d like to have a one-man show in and another solo show which opened at week later at the Phyllis Energy and Life the Whitney. I was sleeping on a friend’s couch at the time and Kind Gallery in Chicago. What do you love best about this neighborhood? Fred concurs with this poem by English poet and since she had called before noon, I thought she was kidding, The Whitney bought one of my sculptures and the exhibition I love that SoHo is extremely convenient in that everything I printmaker, William Blake, taken from Blake’s book, “The said yes, and went back to sleep. She called me back at 2 p.m. really launched my career. need is within a short walk and it is very easy to entice visitors. Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” in 1793: As it turns out, a Geneva Museum show, which I was in, co- I do most of my physical work in Venice Beach, California, but incided with the very first Art Basel, and it was there that I met I still have a private studio in SoHo. Man has no Body distinct from his Soul; for that called Body Years of perfecting his techniques my subsequent European dealers. At this point my works were My SoHo building provides me with a wonderful show place is a portion of Soul Fred’s talents have across the U.S., Sweden, Germany, and European countries. for reaching national and international audiences. It keeps me in discern’d by the five Senses evolved over the the thick of the art scene, and most of all, I love New York. the chief What happened as a result of this worldwide exposure? Looking back over my 45-year career, with about 200 exhi- inlets of Soul in this age. decades. For info visit: In 1977 I was appointed the first artist-in-residence at the bitions in 16 countries, 22 public commissions 35 and public Energy is the only life and is from the Body; fredeversley.com. Smithsonian Institution. collections, I realize that a large percentage of these triumphs and reason is the bound or outward circumference of Energy. 45 While at the Smithsonian, I won an important national com- were due to my SoHo presence. Energy is Eternal Delight.

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