George Rickey American, 1907-2002 Cluster of Four Cubes, 1992 stainless steel Gift of George Rickey and Patrons' Permanent Fund 1992.79.1

George Rickey began to produce kinetic sculpture in the late 1940s. Intrigued by both the history of constructivist art and by the example of Calder's mobiles, he developed systems of motion that made his works respond to the slightest variations in the flow of air currents. Rickey's kinetic sculpture provides a dialogue between ordered geometric shapes and random motion.

The massive element of Cluster of Four Cubes is appended by ball bearings to slender arms that branch from a central post. Each cube is precisely weighted and balanced, engineered to turn effortlessly in the lightest breeze; they glide, nearly brushing one another in an intricate and graceful dance that belies their apparent bulk.(16 of 17)