Rob Lorenson has been a professor at Bridgewater State University since 1999. Along with being an educator he is an artist and his art piece “Bridgewater Ascending” was chosen to be displayed on campus. Before being employed at BSU, Lorenson lived in Chicago, Illinois. There he recieved a MFA degree in sculpture from Northern Illiois University and before that he recieved a BFA degree in sculpture from the University of Northern Iowa. Even before school, Lorenson knew he wanted to work with metal, which is why his art pieces are made of various metals. When left Chi-town, at his own expense, to become a teacher at the university, he could not bring his art with him. With having most of the sculptures made of metal and they are not easy to move.
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Themes in an abstract art piece are very important because since the piece is non-respresentational, themes make the art piece easier to understand. In order to achieve this, abstract artist must use shapes, forms, colors, and textures. In the case of “Bridgewater Ascending” this is true. The theme of the sculpture is illusion. Lorenson explains that the point of this sculpture is to challenge the viewer the question what is solid. When viewers see the piece they believe it is solid and sturdy which in technical terms is correct but if the sculpture was not welded of screwed into the ground it would not be. Looking at the individual placement of each element there is clear unstability. In life objects that are curved are not balanced. For example, a ball is a sphere which is completely curved no matter what positon it is looked at. A ball can be placed down and can stay in a spot but that does not make it stable. If a small wind blows or someone touches it slightly the ball will roll. This is the case for the elements of this sculpture. The main part of the piece is a circle. A circle is the two-dimensional version of a sphere, so many of the properties are the same. If the circle part of the sculture was not welded to the curved pieces on the bottom, it would just roll off. Especially since the three curved pieces are not placed evenly under the circle. Having the three piece not support the circle evenly is instability on it’s own because if all the support is on one side the circle would roll off to the unsupported side. A third way the sculpture is unstable is the contact points between each element are very small. The elements need each other to remain stable and not having enough contact with each other they would easily fall
Themes in an abstract art piece are very important because since the piece is non-respresentational, themes make the art piece easier to understand. In order to achieve this, abstract artist must use shapes, forms, colors, and textures. In the case of “Bridgewater Ascending” this is true. The theme of the sculpture is illusion. Lorenson explains that the point of this sculpture is to challenge the viewer the question what is solid. When viewers see the piece they believe it is solid and sturdy which in technical terms is correct but if the sculpture was not welded of screwed into the ground it would not be. Looking at the individual placement of each element there is clear unstability. In life objects that are curved are not balanced. For example, a ball is a sphere which is completely curved no matter what positon it is looked at. A ball can be placed down and can stay in a spot but that does not make it stable. If a small wind blows or someone touches it slightly the ball will roll. This is the case for the elements of this sculpture. The main part of the piece is a circle. A circle is the two-dimensional version of a sphere, so many of the properties are the same. If the circle part of the sculture was not welded to the curved pieces on the bottom, it would just roll off. Especially since the three curved pieces are not placed evenly under the circle. Having the three piece not support the circle evenly is instability on it’s own because if all the support is on one side the circle would roll off to the unsupported side. A third way the sculpture is unstable is the contact points between each element are very small. The elements need each other to remain stable and not having enough contact with each other they would easily fall