Quintessence of Hedgehog

George W. Hart

  

This is a hold-in-your-hand size (4 inch diameter) sculpture assembled from twenty-four acrylic plastic (plexiglas) pieces. It is very tactile to hold and spin around in your hand --- not really like a hedgehog, but I do not know how else to describe the way it bursts with energy in all directions. The above image is aimed right through its core along a 5-fold axis.  There is a high-resolution version here. Below is a more generic angle.



There are two shapes of wind-mill like pieces, as shown below, twelve of each in parallel pairs. They are carefully calculated so that the arms pass by each other and only meet at the exterior where they are beveled and joined. The smaller ones are slightly outside of the larger ones,.  Each joint connects an arm of a larger piece to an arm of a smaller piece.
It is hard to capture in a photograph how dense it is and how the parts just pass by each other at various angles. The computer-generated image below conveys the complexity of its structure. Of course this computer image does not capture the way light goes through the transparent parts and reflects off the surfaces. So one really must hold it in hand and turn it about to fully appreciate it .

  
This is one of a series of acrylic sculptures which I made in a limited edition of only six copies. Each is in a different color, so each is unique. Below are the first three of the six for this design.



For other acrylic sculptures in this series, view my acrylic sculpture limited editions page.


Copyright 2003, George W. Hart