On April 7, 2022, I attended Gerald de Jong's event in which he gave attendees a tour of his studio and his work. His work consists three dimensional sculptures based on computer generations he developed himself. His work was largely inspired by Kenneth Snelson, an American sculptor who, like de Jong, stitched together aluminum tubes and stainless steel wires to create towers, arcs, and cantilevers (Grimes, 2016). In 1948, Snelson experimented in his piece, "Early X Piece" where he suspended two X's made from plywood over one another using a matrix of nylon tension lines. This method forfeited mobility but, in doing so, he realized the solid elements were held together only by tension members (Grimes, 2016). Architect ,Buckminster Fuller described works such as these as works of tensegrity and they can be found all over the world on a variety of different scales (Pires, 2021).
de Jong was particularly inspired by Snelson's piece "Needle Tower". This piece was designed for the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C and uses aluminum tubes that act in compression and are held up by tension created through steel cables attached at the ends of each cable (Pires, 2021). Much like Snelson, de Jong wanted to create works of tensegrity, but wanted to do so through a different process. Before creating his sculptures, Snelson would create small, physical models. However, the structures that de Jong wanted to create were too complicated to come up with so he, instead, created a software in which he was able to generate virtual renderings of his sculptures. He also wanted to use a software because his sculptures require his pieces to be cut to millimeter accuracy, if even one is incorrect the entire sculpture will appear as though it has a problem.
Much like Snelson, most of de Jong's sculptures utilize brass or aluminum tubes as well as Dyneema Cord, a brand of strong, nonflexible, nylon cord. "Halo by Crane" was the first sculpture he generated using the software and consists of 109 bars. "Headless Hug" was de Jong's way of exploring the human body.
Works Cited
“De Jong, Gerald - Tensegrity.” Tensegrity Wiki, 23 November 2018, https://tensegritywiki.com/wiki/De_Jong,_Gerald. Accessed 15 April 2022.
Grimes, William. “Kenneth Snelson, Sculptor Who Fused Art, Science and Engineering, Dies at 89 (Published 2016).” The New York Times, 23 December 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/arts/design/kenneth-snelson-dead-sculptor.html?smid=tw-nytobits&smtyp=cur. Accessed 15 April 2022.
Pires, Samantha. “8 Examples of Tensegrity That Almost Defy Gravity.” My Modern Met, 2 January 2021, https://mymodernmet.com/tensegrity-architecture/. Accessed 15 April 2022.
“Pretenst Tensegrity Design.” Pretenst, https://pretenst.com/app/#construction;Halo-by-Crane. Accessed 7 April 2022.
“Pretenst Tensegrity Design.” Pretenst, https://pretenst.com/app/#construction;Headless-Hug. Accessed 7 April 2022.
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