Wonder. Intuition. Realization. Joy. These are the hallmarks of Art Fairchild’s sculptural visions. A poet starts with the intangible but succumbs to words to convey his intuition. Conversely, an engineer realizes a problem with the tangible. Art unifies the dichotomy of the engineer and the poet. He strives for the singularity, the space where wonder leads to realization through intuition using engineering to express sculptural poetry.

Wonder. Art often posits what if… What if a bag of ordinary bolts were randomly dropped and the resulting chaos fragmented in time and space? What if a perfect sphere were carved out of this random imperfection? What if this dichotomy of chaos and perfection was magnified and given the potential of kinetic energy? Art’s initial wonder became realization through engineering and intuition, resulting in the work “Whimsical Spherical.”

Intuition. Like many elements of his work, Art’s creative process is dichotomous: He marries his rigorous engineering ability with a deeply seated intuition, using self-imposed parameters to shape his works. Art loves rules – but realizes the greatest moment of a rule is change. Something has to be just so with Art – the goal has a definite existence even though he cannot always immediately see it. He understands the inherent nature of a material. The relationship of one steel tube to another. Spacing. Mass. When to make steel turn a corner … but he lets his intuition guide his realization in the process of his art and changes the rules when he realizes a moment of singularity.

Realization. Art studied art in college, but it was his business that launched his artistic endeavors. Through his tradeshow exhibit company, Art taught himself to realize design, engineering and production of dynamic, artistic displays while constantly brainstorming the next intuition of wonderment. He serviced nationwide clients with real-world engineering and technical solutions for the industry. It is this same exploratory process that now speaks through his art, as he strives to capture his wonder through realization born of intuition.

Joy. The result of his intuitive realization is often unbridled joy – the joy of the seemingly effortless glide of ball bearings as they turn a frozen vision of tumbled bolts or the joy of experiencing subtle light changes in handmade glass panels suspended in an Escher-like field of steel tubing. His art often evokes the primal urge to touch and become immersive in his poetic works that speak to the intangible.

Scott and Paula Murphey