Newcomer makes quantum waves in the art world

Sculptor Julian Voss-Andreae, a relative newcomer to the art world, has been selected to display his piece “Quantum Man” at the Seattle Art Museum’s “West Edge Sculpture Invitational 2007”, an honor typically reserved for well-established sculptors. The event is known for highlighting the best and most relevant sculpture produced in the Pacific Northwest.

Though Voss-Andreae graduated only three years ago from Art College in Portland (Ore.), the work of the German quantum physicist-turned-sculptor has quickly gained critical attention. Voss-Andreae’s sculpture is heavily influenced by his background in science, capturing the attention of multiple institutions and collectors in the U.S and abroad, including recent commissions for a large-scale outdoor piece for the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter (Fla.) and a sculpture for Nobel laureate Roderick MacKinnon at Rockefeller University in New York City. Voss-Andreae’s work has recently been featured in several publications, including Science Magazine.

Drawing inspiration from the underlying reality of nature, Voss-Andreae’s sculpture “Quantum Man” is the image of a walking man seen as a quantum object. Made up of over a hundred vertically oriented stainless steel sheets, the 8’ (2.50 m) tall sculpture provides an apt metaphor for the counter-intuitive world of quantum physics. Modern physics discovered that the world is fundamentally different than it appears to our senses. While most consider it commonplace that matter is solid and impenetrable, quantum physics revealed that matter is actually more fuzzy than solid; all matter is fundamentally made up of waves, lacking precise boundaries. Symbolizing this dual nature of matter, the sculpture seems to consist of solid steel when seen from the front but nearly disappears when seen from the side, as light shines through the spaces between the slabs.

The “West Edge Sculpture Invitational 2007” jurors were Michael Darling, curator of modern and contemporary art for the Seattle Art Museum, Barbara Shaiman, director of the Gallery at the Seattle Art Museum, and Gregory Robinson, executive director of the Museum of Northwest Art. The exhibition will run from July 20th—October 20th and the venues include the Seattle Art Museum, Benaroya Hall and the Harbor Steps.

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Images on http://www.JulianVossAndreae.com:

http://www.julianvossandreae.com/Work/wave3gallery/QM_3up_low.jpg