Illuminated Steel

“I think of my artwork as a fragment of something larger. My sculpture involves illusionary structures and situations lending to perceptual ambiguity in both interior and large-scale outdoor concepts.”

-Robert Maki

Robert Maki is a man with a keen eye for something that is a major part of everyday life; light. At one point during a study, the Washington native was playing around with a cardboard cutout of a structure, something he commonly does before creating sculptures, and became fascinated with the way the light played in the crevices. Little to his own knowledge, years later he would be commissioned and bring this piece to life.

Walking up to the large corten steel structure that sits in the middle of Western Washington University’s north end of campus, Curve/Diagonal brings about many thoughts. As a product of its own period, were social structures were shifting and revealing the new Minimalist artistic style, the piece is largely conceptual. At this first glance, some see a part to an airplane or other engineering intricacies, some see a mother embracing a child, and others are simply confused with what they are even looking at. However, no matter what a person sees the first time they approach, it is guaranteed that they will never see the same thing again. As Robert Maki was studying, the light of the sun that arcs over the sculpture creates an ever-changing shadow when it plays with the curve that cuts the center of the piece. Resulting, even the seasons, cloud cover, and surrounding trees can alter this work to transform into something never before seen.

Authors: David Nghiem, Faith Pepper, Samantha Atripaldi

Pictures by: Samantha Atripaldi