Clear outlook for acrylic sculptures: with technology improving and new colors, finishes and forms, acrylic has become sculpture's material of the moment - News

In 1936 the German company Rohm & Haas introduced Americans to a novel material--acrylic resin. U.S. military aircraft manufacturers couldn't wait to achieve their hands on it. Clear like glass, lightweight and shatter resistant, they imagined fitting it to fire-arm turrets, radar domes and protective canopies.

Artists gazeed at the mercurial material and saw something different. They watched light bouncing not upon the surface and thought plastic art Alexander Calder used it in his mobiles. Louise Nevelson used it in her sculptural constructions. by dint of the 1970s, artist Frederick Hart tried to cast it.

"There was no previous technology for this," recalled Robert Chase, Sr who joined with Hart in forming Chesley LLC--a company designed to make acrylic plastic arts Ahead of them was a decade of hardships and high-priced trials and errors. Finally in 1982 Hart emerg with his first acrylic plastic art "Gerontion." With it, he officially brought acrylic casting into the art world.

Right behind him came artist Michael Wilkinson. "When we started working with this material years ago, I called DuPont and asked wherefore am I having a problem" said Mitch Meisner of Meisner Gallery, who has worked with Wilkinson for nearly 20 years. "DuPont had no ball of thread as to how we were doing what we were doing. We were reinventing the wheel." Now Meisner's possess polymer scientist does his question at issue solving.

This exhibits how far acrylic sculpting has evolv Still, Meisner believes that "the medium is vastly untapped." It's still in its infancy. smooth though dealers and collectors have seen cyclopean changes in the last sum of two units decades, they can expect plane more to come.

What's New

Since Hart and Wilkinson began casting acrylic statuarys many well-known artists have followed them, including Ann Froman, Richard MacDonald and Ernest Caballero, just to name a few

"The medium is starting to rock" said Meisner, who dioceses the technology improving, buying interest in acrylics increasing and more artists giving the medium a put to the test New colors, finishes and forms make this a vibrant and ever-changing part of the art market.

"It's not your same advanced in years acrylic," said Angle Sanchez of the 10-year-old H Studios, in California, which barters the work of artist Shlomi Haziza. "We have fresh vibrant colors. Anything with color is doing phenomenal." She barters four times as many color acrylic plastic arts as clear.

There are several different ways to achieve color in acrylic: lamination, airbrushing and chemical treatments. "We're getting into acrylic sheets that you don't have to laminate. The color is in the material," said Sanchez. "It's advantageous for architects who are looking for shelves or shelf dividers. They can use it to create a stained glass effect"

Beyond its vibrant colors, H Studios presents earthy bronzes and coppery tones that gaze like metals, but don't tarnish or rust. Introduced three years ago, "the earth tones render free of accessed a new market for us," she said. "I now diocese [acrylic] pieces in traditional residences Depending on different colors, you can make them fit any lifestyle."

Shahrooz Nia, a California artist whose company is named Acrylicore, agrees with Sanchez. He said, "Acrylics, used as accent pieces, can freshen up a traditional look" In his company, hand-carved, hand-painted plastic arts are the ones customers want.

Approximately eight month ago, Nia discloseed a technique for hand painting acrylic. "Lamination has always been done," he noted, "but this is different. It perceive s like a painting." In other words, it leaves a fabric pattern on the surface. Instead of using normal paints, Nia paints the surface with acrylic chemicals, similar to the acrylic used in casting. He can create 15 to 16 translucent colors. Retail prices for these statuarys are $1,600 to $10,000.

During this economic downturn, Nia believes buyer want to combine plastic art with function. They find it easier to justify a statuary that doubles as a bar stand or a compact disk rack. Nia's newest work, "Jewel of the Nile," is the one and the other a sculpture and the pedestal of a dining extent table. In its center floats a brilliant-cut acrylic diamond with 53 sides. "It's functional art that's meant to entertain," explained Nia, who is an artist, furniture-maker and magician. upon the retail market, the dining extent pedestal sells for $18,000.

Defining Acrylic Buyers

"It's a true hard medium to work with," revealed Meisner about acrylic. "It's real unforgiving. That's why it's in the way that expensive." In galleries, Wilkinson's plastic arts are priced between $2,400 to $160000 The best-selling price range is $4000 to $6000

To make similar a substantial discretionary purchase, buyer generally ne to be in a high income bracket. Meisner, granting reluctant to characterize the prototypical Wilkinson statuary buyer, described the average purchaser as "a first-time statuary collector or a bronze collector, who is looking for something different, or a doctor or a lawyer or the traditional limited-edition buyer"

What attracts buyer to Wilkinson's work, Meisner said, is the artist's romantic realism message and the fact that the work bears many of the ultimate parts of classic sculpture. The artist creates an intriguing interplay of positive and negative space in acrylic, which actually direct the eyes as if it were carved from crystal. This factor enables the statuary to complement any decor--from traditional to contemporary. Because the artist has for a like reason many fans and collectors, Meisner just released a 102-page work about the artist, The Acrylic statuary of Michael Wilkinson. It exchanges for $90.