Robert McDermott
"Linear Construction III", three views
Plexiglass and Monofilament Line, Mobile, 20" x 20" x 24", 5 pounds, 1972.
Robert McDermott
"In 1967 as a student at Lock Haven State College in Pennsylvania, I majored in mathematics and minored in art. In a basic design class, I saw a work by Naum Gabo in Mainstreams of Modern Art by John Canaday (1965). His sculpture reminded me of my earlier drawings of ruled curves. In a Basic Design, Art Class I decided to intersect two planes of Plexiglass to replace the bounding lines and use monofilament line for the straight lines. I hoped to produce the illusion of curved surfaces. My Linear Construction I hangs in the home of my basic design teacher William Foster and his spouse, Marbeth, in Woolrich, Pennsylvania.
In 1970 while traveling in Europe to see original art and architecture I visited the Tate Gallery in London, I saw a more recent work by Naum Gabo reminiscent of my Linear Construction. I felt a creative connection between the two of us, and was elated.
In 1972, when I was at the University of Utah for a Ph.D. in Computer Aided
Geometric Design, I met my future wife, Deborah, who was a fine art painting
and drawing major. I tried to describe my Linear Construction I to her without
any success. Consequently, I built Linear Construction III. This sculpture was
included in an Exhibit of Computer Graphics and Sculpture in the Library of
Congress in 1981 and is the piece of sculpture being exhibited at Bridges 2006."
To see Naum Gabo, Linear Construction 1:
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=4804&s
To see Naum Gabo, Linear Construction 2:
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=4807&s