“Breezing Up” moves in the wind and has an internal cable system invented by Rubenstein, a former neuroscientist.
“It’s a three-element piece,” Rubenstein told Journal-News as the piece was delivered to the Hamilton sculpture park. “They’re stacked like leaves, and they’re one on top of the other, but they move independently.”
The new sculpture is inspired by Winslow Homer painting "Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)“.
“I’m an avid sailor my whole life ... and this beautiful painting has a sailboat sailing up in Massachusetts, and I had this postcard from the National Gallery of Art on my desk growing up,” he said. “I just felt like I wanted to pay homage to the painting.
“The pieces are not literal representations of sails, but they have that curvilinear, concave shape.”
Rubenstein said large‑scale wind kinetic sculptures are “very captivating” because their reflective stainless steel shows shifting light, color, shape and movement, and their non‑continuous winding-and-release motion gives them “sort of a human quality.”
The sculpture will be installed ahead of an “Art & Earth Day” event April 25 that will offer free admission sponsored by Synchrony Bank.
Pyramid Hill Executive Director Sarah Templeton Wilson said she’s excited to have Rubenstein bringing another piece to the sculpture park.
“His piece ”Skybound" was very popular with our visitors, and obviously we celebrate it being purchased by the Cincinnati Museum, but getting another piece by him, and especially a kinetic one, is really important to the park, because it is really adding to the collection, adding something new and different and engaging for visitors,” Templeton Wilson said.
The 470-acre park Pyramid Hill has more than 75 sculptures, but only one other kinetic piece, “The Cube” by Tony Rosenthal, “but it’s not wind driven, it’s people driven,” she said.
In addition, the new addition will be one of the park’s tallest pieces, which along with its location will make it highly visible, Templeton Wilson said.
“You can see it both from our twin lakes area, but you could also see it from the patio overlook,” she said. “People can go up there and have a picnic and see the piece spinning in the wind, so it’ll be quite an added aesthetic.”
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