British/American artist Anthony James is known for his monumental and performative sculptures and installations. His work – exhibited internationally in galleries, museums, and art fairs – gestures towards minimalism, materiality, and experimentation with light and space, making for a somewhat mystifying effect.
In one of his more striking series, he makes what calls Portals/Icosahedrons – installations made of titanium, LED lights, and transparent mirrors. The historical cosmology of Plato is a primary inspiration for his Portals/Plutonic Solids. Referring to works in this series, James said, “The Icosahedron is the highest and most beautiful geometric shape of the five platonic bodies and is associated with the element water. Water is all about flow, movement, and unity.”
James began his Portals Series back in 2011 and his portals will next be exhibited in October 2019 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. “Anthony James’ work takes up the concepts of the universal and transcendental in order to demonstrate the impossibility of their representation,” art historian Rachel Baum said of this series. “The historical cosmology of Plato is a primary inspiration, both for the sculptures of icosahedrons and for the silhouette of Baroque architecture Francesco Borromini’s dome for Sant’Ivo in Rome.”
Whatever the explanation behind it, the result is simply stunning. Catch a glimpse of his work in the gallery below.
