Yesterday was a gorgeous fall day here in Tulsa, OK, and equally beautiful at the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, AR. This museum is a stunning architectural achievement and has an equally stunning collection of American art, as well as fantastic visiting exhibitions. There are also beautiful outside exhibits and trails. Visiting this museum is always a treat!!
The coolest thing I saw yesterday—and there were many—was a work in the Crystals in Art visiting exhibition. Portal Icosahedron, small and large, (2019), by Anthony James (check out his home page), images below, was just so brilliant and mesmerizing that I spent at least 15 minutes experiencing it. The museum’s description reads:
Inspired by the cosmetology of Plato and drawing from minimalism, the Light and Space artistic movement, and conceptual art, Anthony James constructs these steel icosahedrons—a polyhedron (a three-dimensional solid object) with 20 faces and 30 edges—at varying scales. With no beginning, middle, or end, the large-scale steel sculptures are lined with transparent mirrors. Inside, James creates an illusion of infinite space, nodding to the ancient concept of the universe as a set of concentric planetary orbits.
Looking into the large icosahedron gave me the deepest experience of infinity that I can remember. The affect was hypnotic and magnetic—it must be what space seems like to an astronaut who is in it. If this single work in this single exhibit were all that I saw yesterday, the 4 hour round trip would have been worth it.