Charles Mattox trained as an artist and technician in the Federal Art Project in New York under sculptor David Smith before moving to Los Angeles. After pursuing painting, the Kansas-born artist settled on sculpture, pioneering an aesthetic based on kinetic energy and the machine. Mattox’s works explore movement and sound, harnessing the activity of the air that travels both around and through the work. When motion is introduced to the 22 slender steel spindles of various heights that punctuate the open center of Small Blue Rocker, the resulting vibrations produce a subtle and quiet ring.
Details
- Artist Name: Charles Mattox (American, 1910-1996)
- Title: Small Blue Rocker
- Date: 1967
- Medium: Plywood, fiberglass, stainless steel rods
- Dimensions: 36 x 24 x 12 in. (91.4 x 61.0 x 30.5 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, Gift of Dorothy K. Newmark
- Accession Number: P.1969.076
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Museum
Object Information
Dorthy K. Newmark, gift 1969 to;
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, 1969-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena.
One Man Show
- Nicholas Wilder Gallery, Los Angeles, 1967-01-01 to 1967-12-31
[on loan]
- University of New Mexico, Art Museum, 1968 to
On Ramps: Transitional Moments in California Art
- Pasadena Museum of California Art, 2002-06-01 to 2002-09-01
Beyond Brancusi: The Space of Sculpture
- Norton Simon Museum, 2013-04-26 to 2014-01-06
Recent Acquisitions, 1969
- Pasadena Art Museum, 1969-11-24 to 1970-01-18
Permanent and Loan Collection, 1974
- Pasadena Museum of Modern Art, 1974-03-16 to 1974-06-06
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