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Living Curve

Living Curve is an apt name for this flowy bronze sculpture by Claire Falkenstein from 1976 that looks as if it were leaning to brace itself against being toppled by a gust of wind. The sculpture is a collection of bronze tubes that are propped against, curve around, or intersect each other. Although the tubes create distinct lines and paths, the sculpture maintains a sense of continuity thanks to welding at points where the tubes cross over or pass each other. They all have flattened, pinched ends but are otherwise cylindrical. The dark brown metal glistens around a turquoise patina, or filmy coating. This was made by applying a brown chemical that turned turquoise as it aged. The turquoise appears in places patchy or splotchy, in others like gauze, and yet others, like speckles.

While visitors may view the sculpture from various sides, this description will be written from the perspective of facing one side. The bulk of the artwork is around a dozen long tubes reaching up to four feet at the highest point, just over two feet wide, and almost two-and-a-half feet deep. All but six of these long tubes are bent into a U shape. The others are perfectly straight. The two straight tubes on the left hover a couple inches off the ground, supported by being welded in spots to other long tubes. These two not only hover, but they lean to the right. The remaining four straight tubes lean in all different directions and provide an anchor to the ground with their flattened ends. The U-shaped long tubes dip down and curve back up between and among all of the straight tubes, hinting at the shape of a basket or a yielding hammock with its ends tied to a sturdy metal frame.

The two hovering long tubes on the left create a little crook where they meet the U-tubes that make the basket. There sits a tangled ball made of dozens of U-shaped tubes each a few inches in length. They have the same pinched ends and cylindrical bodies as the long ones, the same dusky turquoise patina. It feels as if this tangle of short tubes could tumble down the slope of a U-shaped tube at any moment. But thanks to the welding, it remains fixed in place, gust of wind or not.