George Rickey

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner in 1989

San Francisco, John Berggruen Gallery, George Rickey: Two Exhibitions: An Indoor Exhibition, 1989

San Fransciso, Esprit Sculpture Garden, An Outdoor Exhibition of Large Scale Sculpture, 1989

Osaka, Gallery Kasahara, George Rickey, 1989, p. 9, illustrated

“Since the design of the movement is paramount, shape, for me, should have no significance of itself; it merely makes movement evident.” — George Rickey 

Unstable Rhombus and Square serves as a quintessential example of Rickey’s delicately crafted kinetic sculptures. The present work, which the artist would describe as a “useless machine”, exists as a poetic structure which gravitates in its own space and time. By creating his own machines deprived of any apparent functionality, the artist is rejecting the mechanization of production in America’s consumerist society. His graceful sculptures capture the beauty of meaningless movement guided by the natural world. Rickel’s works, in which the element of perceptible time is incorporated into an essentially timeless medium, continue to spellbind viewers around the globe.