Kenneth Snelson
Kenneth Duane Snelson was an American contemporary sculptor and photographer. His sculptural works, exemplified by Needle Tower, are composed of flexible and rigid components arranged according to the idea of tensegrity, although Snelson preferred the descriptive term floating compression.
Snelson said his former professor Buckminster Fuller took credit for Snelson's discovery of the concept that Fuller named tensegrity. Fuller gave the idea its name, combining 'tension' and 'structural integrity.' Kārlis Johansons had exhibited tensegrity sculptures several years before Snelson was even born. The height and strength of Snelson's sculptures, which are often delicate in appearance, depend on the tension between rigid pipes and flexible cables.
Biography
Snelson was born in Pendleton, Oregon, in 1927. He studied at the University of Oregon in Eugene, at the Black Mountain College, and with Fernand Léger in Paris. His sculpture and photography have been exhibited at over 25 one-man shows in galleries around the world including the structurally seminal Park Place Gallery in New York in the 1960s. Snelson also did research on the shape of the atom. Snelson continued to work in his SoHo studio, occasionally collaborating with animator Jonathan Monaghan. He lived in New York City with his wife, Katherine.He held five United States patents: #3,169,611: Discontinuous Compression Structures, February 1965; #3,276,148: Model for Atomic Forms, October 1966; #4,099,339: Model for Atomic Forms, July 1978; and #6,017,220: Magnetic Geometric Building System; and most recently, #6,739,937: Space Frame Structure Made by 3-D Weaving of Rod Members, May 25, 2004.
Snelson was a founding member of ConStruct, the artist-owned gallery that promoted and organized large-scale sculpture exhibitions throughout the United States. Other founding members include Mark di Suvero, John Raymond Henry, Lyman Kipp and Charles Ginnever. Snelson was also a pioneer of digital art, using a Silicon Graphics machine to produce artistic images in the 1980s.
After suffering from prostate cancer, Snelson died on December 22, 2016, at the age of 89.
Work
During his early years as an art student, Snelson drew an interest for the tensegrity approach. Buckminster Fuller formalized a lot of the concept, but Snelson clearly contributed to its development. Through his proximity with Bauhaus artists and Abstract expressionists painter, Snelson was mainly drawn to the exploration of tensegrity and space. He claimed he developed his own empirical mathematics system to create his structures, but denies being a mathematician. He says he never found a way to formalize through mathematics the logic of his structures, and never met someone who could.Honours and awards
Sculptures in public collections and public spaces
United States
Alabama
Mora Terry II, Birmingham Museum of Art, BirminghamCalifornia
City Boots, 1968, J. Patrick Lannon Foundation, Los AngelesMozart I, 1982, Stanford University, Palo AltoDistrict of Columbia
Needle Tower, 1968, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, WashingtonUntitled Maquette, 1975, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, WashingtonFlorida
Newport, 1968, M. Margulies, Coconut GroveDouble City Boots, 1967, MDC Wolfson Campus, MiamiX-Planar Tower, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, SarasotaIowa
Four Module Piece, 1968, Riverfront Crossings Park, Iowa CityLouisiana
Virlane Tower, 1981, Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden at NOMA, New OrleansMaryland
B-Tree, 1981, National Institutes of Health, BethesdaEasy Landing, 1977, City of Baltimore, Baltimore- Six Number Two, 1967, Annmarie Sculpture Garden, Solomons, Maryland
Massachusetts
Mozart III, 2008, Science Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley,Michigan
Indexer II, 2001, University of Michigan, Ann ArborB-Tree II, 2005, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand RapidsMissouri
Triple Crown, 1991, Hallmark, Inc., Kansas City, Missouri, just north of 27th Street between Main Street and Grand Blvd, at the South end of the Crown Center complex. The sculpture consists of 30–40 aluminum tubes held together and apart by steel cables. The entire assembly is roughly 23 meters on each of three sides and roughly that tall, with the low point being roughly 5 meters above the ground.Nebraska
Able Charlie, 1983, Joslyn Art Museum, OmahaNew York
Coronation Day, 1980, City of Buffalo, BuffaloE.C. Column, 1969–81, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, BuffaloFour Chances, 1982, Albright Knox Museum, BuffaloFair Leda, 1969, Nelson Rockefeller EstateFree Ride Home, 1974, Storm King Art Center, MountainvilleMozart II, 1982, Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Garden at Pepsico, PurchaseSun River, 1967, Whitney Museum of American Art, New YorkOne World Trade Center antenna/spire, 2006, One World Trade Center, New YorkNew Jersey
Northwood II, 1970, Compton Quad, Graduate College, Princeton, MercerNorth Carolina
Northwood II, 1970, Asheville Art Museum, AshevillePennsylvania
Forest Devil, 1975–77, Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute, PittsburghOhio
Forest Devil, 1975, University of Cincinnati, CincinnatiV-X, 1968, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus- Rainbow Arch, Seltzer Sculpture Park, 11205 Harborview Dr, Cleveland, OH 44102
Oklahoma
Sleeping Dragon, 2002–03, Kirkpatrick Oil Company Building, Oklahoma CityTennessee
Dragon II, 2005, Knoxville Museum of Art, KnoxvilleV-X-II, 1973-4, Hunter Museum, ChattanoogaTexas
Northwood, 1969, Northwood Institute, Cedar HillsVermont
- "Hard Wired", Bennington