Northwood II

The work of Kenneth Snelson often leaves professional engineers baffled. Interested in the physical forces of tension and compression, or push and pull, he creates sculptures in which aesthetics and engineering are intertwined: each contributes to an artistic whole that can never be separated into its individual parts. Snelson has remarked, “I want to build a universe.” Indeed, his works appear to follow their own aesthetic and physical laws, as exemplified by Northwood II. Six stainless steel tubes of equal length are arranged in three pairs of oblique staggered parallels, appearing to float in a geometic network of steel cables. Together, they not only delineate an internal space but also seem to define the atmosphere around them.