Fred Eversley is a member of the first generation of California Light and Space artists; his training and early employment as an aerospace engineer distinguish him from his peers. After he decided in 1967 to focus on making art, he brought this personal history to bear on his art practice. Rather than molding industrial resins and plastics to make his sculptures (as did many other Light and Space artists), Eversley used turntables—salvaged and retrofitted by the artist from originals designed to produce casings for the first atomic bombs—harnessing the centrifugal force they generated when revolving at high speeds to create thick concave disks out of liquid polyester resin. Eversley mathematically calculated the forms that resulted from this spinning process. He would then obsessively grind and polish the resulting forms by hand to complete his smooth and elegant “lenses,” as he calls them. He made lenses, beginning in 1969, in a variety of colors, at times even combining multiple colors in one sculpture; he continues to make similar forms (among others) today. Eversley wants his lenses to function in relation to changing environmental (especially lighting) conditions and the viewer’s own movement; as he has explained, “The pieces should be picked up, moved around, viewed under all kinds of light and from every possible perspective angle.” In this sense the lenses can be considered kinetic sculptures, though without having actual moving parts. The pared-down form and pale pink color of Untitled are exemplary of Eversley’s lenses.
