Now on View Through May 27, 2022!

MOA presents Sculpture on the Green II, the second installation of our ongoing, rotating sculpture exhibition program. Sculptures are placed for a period of one to five years as part of this program. Currently featured is renowned Colorado sculptor, Robert Mangold.

Born in rural Indiana in 1930, Robert Mangold joined the Air Force in 1949. At Indiana University where he earned an MFA in 1960, he started working on wind-driven sculpture as early as 1958, about the same time as internationally renowned kinetic sculptor, George Rickey, who was both a teacher and friend to Mangold. In the early 1960s, Mangold moved to Colorado and taught design and sculpture at the University of Denver until 1964. He then went on to create the art department at Metropolitan State University of Denver in 1965 and taught sculpture there for 29 years.

Working in both traditional and kinetic sculpture formats, Mangold’s sculptures explore concepts of space and motion. In 1962, Mangold began his Anemotive series of spherical, wind-propelled kinetic sculptures. His anemotive kinetic works are characterized by cup-like shapes mounted on arms which allow for motion.

The sculptures you see in this Sculpture on the Green exhibition are made from industrial steel piping. Some are painted a brilliant red, while others are simply polished, allowing for the beauty in the raw material to be discovered.

The unusual title of this series of work, PTTSAAES, is actually an acronym, the letters standing for a “Point Traveling Through Space At An Erratic Speed.” Unlike the wind-activated works in Mangold’s ‘Anemotive Series’, ‘PTTSAAES’ is stationary and movement is instead implied.

The viewer’s eye moves along the slick lines of varying lengths and directions, but through the suggestion of speed the observer can mentally add an energy force to “animate” the work. With adjustments in perception, the point then travels through space via “virtual kinesis,” rising up from the ground and zooming back into it.

Mangold has exhibited nationally and internationally. He has also created a number of public art pieces and has 3 sculptures in the MOA collection.