Designed from across the pond and fabricated in Houston, “Double Physichromie” is the product of kinetic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez, whose work was on exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, early last year.
Cruz-Diez has two galleries in the US, including Maria Sicardi Gallery on Richmond Avenue, but this sculpture was his first US commission.
UH Curator of Public Art Michael Guidry described the artist as an important figure in art history and said the piece works best when seen in passing.
“It looks like an incredibly complicated piece of art,” he said. “But when you break it down into all of its components, it’s rather simple. I think the complexity comes in the amazing color combinations that Cruz-Diez works with, and how those colors sit together, and how they change when you move across the front of it.”
With his son, Jorge, Cruz-Diez drew very specific designs and then worked with local fabricators and a local painter to construct the piece.
“The installation was amazingly simple,” Guidry said. “The basic form, or armature, was brought over in three pieces. We had an S-shaped concrete foundation poured for it. They came over with a crane, dropped the three pieces down and, almost more simply than a puzzle, slid these pieces in along a channel.”