FRESH FRIDAY | FRED EVERSLEY

Since the 1960s, Fred Eversley has been interested in energy. The energy of light throughout life in the properties of solar, reflections, and the transcendental quality of light itself. Eversley has been working with resin for decades to create his parabolic "lenses", sculptures that both harness the light towards the oculus, but also offer distinct reflections on their curving surfaces. The colors range from a milky white to opaque black with every turquoise, magenta, and rainbow wonder in between. Regardless of the color, Eversley's work takes a smooth, translucent facade and makes it feel optically infinite.

Eversley is a trained engineer, beginning his career working at NASA facilities, but was always interested in his artistic analysis and so moved to Venice Beach in 1964 to become a full time artist. His curiosity in the  capacity of the parabolic shape and the metaphysics of light energy were akin to several other artists at the time working in Southern California including Mary Corse, James Turrell, Robert Irwin, Bruce Nauman, Craig Kauffman, and Maria Nordman to name a few. These artists, along with others, all formed the Southern California Light and Space Movement; a loose group of artists who were interested in the "perceptual phenomena" through the use of materials such as glass, fluorescent lights, and resin. These artists either worked with directing natural light, worked with artificial light in new and unorthodox ways, or utilized reflections to further describe the properties of light. Eversley's background with aerospace industries and interest in producing objects with a mesmerizing internal light source solidified him within this grouping of minimalist artists.

As the singular object of Eversley's long and successful career, the "lenses" continue to offer a look into our optical perception of color and the many folds of light, directing our once assumed perspective into a constant state of possibility.

Red Visa Versa, 1984. Image courtesy of Artsy.

Untitled, 1971. Image courtesy of William Turner Gallery.