Sculptor, Fred Eversley, a pioneering artist with an early and long-standing affiliation with the Light and Space movement, will unveil his largest public sculptural installation for permanent display titled 'Portals.' Commissioned by Related Ross in partnership with the City of West Palm Beach, the installation will debut on November 08, 2024 at the new Julian Abele waterfront public park adjacent to the historic First Church of Christ, Scientist, designed by Abele in 1928 and completed in 1929, and One Flagler, a new 25-story building designed by architect David Childs and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP set to open in December 2024.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist — Julian Abele ParkDesigned in the Beaux-Arts style and of paramount importance as it remains one of the most architecturally significant historic structures in West Palm Beach, The First Church of Christ, Scientist inspired Eversley’s 'Portals.' The Church, designed by Abele, one of America’s first highly recognized African American architects, who designed over 200 buildings including Duke University and Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26 of which are on the National Register of Historic Places, will be home to a 1.25-acre public green space that will be named “Julian Abele Park.”
Vision Behind 'Portals''Portals' comprise a constellation of eight freestanding, 16.5-foot-tall parabolic sculptures in mirror-polished stainless steel that evoke both Abele’s eight ionic church columns and Child’s octonary light tower composition, acting as an anchor, connecting the past and the future with reflective presence. The colonnade’s placement and repetition of abstracted pure geometrical forms express a voice rooted in the Beaux Arts and Neo-classical movements. The solid and seamless vertically fluted arch sculptures make a majestic gesture as a whole, while each Portal’s singularity acts as an entry point into cosmic realms, allowing viewers to interact with its transformative, optically mesmerizing nature and to experience individual introspection as a reflection of their physical surroundings.
Artistic Design of ‘Portals’The parabolic tapered cylindrical shape of the sculptures will act as mirror reflectors, concentrating all forms of energy to a focal point, and create distorted reflective kinetic effects on the convex concave surfaces. The eight elements are evenly distributed as a grand arc plan, while each portal’s individual focal point is rotated, gradually shifting around a converging point at the front of the reflecting pools' southern central edge, where all elements’ central axis meet. The viewer may discover this common focal point and feel the center of gravity and infinity while observing its participatory role to the fullest as all Portals are directed toward the viewer seeing itself at the center of each portal.
The direct sun hits each elements’ center at a unique time, casting a direct angle of its shadow, while hitting the other elements in a slightly different angle. The eastern morning sun will align with the most western Portals’ interior surface, traveling across each of the eight portals throughout the day into the golden hour. The Portal’s appearance can be seen as an abstracted sun dial, where each element and the constellation as a whole allowing the viewer to trace time passing by through as the ever changing reflections of the surroundings and sky, shifting with the light, weather, and hour of day is mirrored in the portals, and reflected down into the water.
Portals is the largest public art installation and most ambitious project created by Eversley in recent years and will be part of the City of West Palm Beach’s public art program, ArtLife WPB. The competition and selection process for the commission was managed by Related Ross executives and Culture Corps, the art advisory and creative consultancy founded by Doreen Remen and Yvonne Force Villareal.
Eversley explains, “Seen from afar, eight Portals rise up, out of dark water, shaping a graceful gate that resonates with the columns of the church. Like an arced welcoming arm, the Portals will lead visitors to the heart of the site’s historical ground. The Portals become an active third part of what is now a sculptural and architectural trilogy, one in which the number eight is a recurring theme. Three ‘enlightened’ structures create a sense of time travel through three states of realities — those associated with the past, present, and future — engaged in a new order. The aim is to inspire and draw thoughts to Abele’s masterful gestures, and to the mind that gave rise to this destination point, which now appears in a new light, and with new life. Portals signals a new beginning––an homage to Abele’s significance and his relevant, lasting contribution, which are here given renewed value and brought into the eternal light of infinite spirit.”
“We believe that public art is inclusive and creates memorable shared experiences providing moments of discovery and inspiration. Julian Abele Park at One Flagler is the perfect place to present an important work of art by an iconic artist,” says Gopal Rajegowda, EVP/Partner, Development, Related Ross. “We conducted an in-depth search and proposal process, which resulted in the selection of Portals by Fred Eversley. The artwork stands out for its beautiful, eye-catching design and its homage to architect Julian Abele and the historic church. Eversley’s sculptures will make a meaningful connection between the past and the current important time in the City of West Palm Beach.”
City of West Palm Beach Major Keith James adds, “By preserving the historical First Church of Christ, Scientist and creating a new monumental artwork that pays tribute to its architect, Related Ross and Fred Eversley are presenting the City of West Palm Beach with a lasting gift. This new park and captivating installation will be a major draw for residents, visitors and art enthusiasts.”
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About Fred Eversley:Fred Eversley (b. 1941, Brooklyn, New York) is a key figure in the development of contemporary art from Los Angeles during the postwar period. Now based in New York after living and working in Venice Beach, California for fifty years, Eversley synthesizes elements from several art historical movements associated with Southern California, including Light and Space, though his work is the product of a pioneering vision all his own, informed by lifelong studies on the timeless principles of light, space, time, and gravity. Prior to his becoming an artist, Eversley was an engineer who designed and built high intensity acoustical laboratories for NASA’s Apollo and Gemini missions and consulted on other major aerospace programs. His science and technology background helped develop his interest in the parabolic shape; the only shape that concentrates all forms of energy to a single focal point. His pioneering use of polyester resin, and industrial dyes and pigments, reflects the technological advances that define the postwar period even as his work reveals the timeless inner workings of the human eye and mind. Eversley’s abstract, three-dimensional meditations on color—including the luminous parabolic lenses for which he is best known—entice the viewer to approach, prompting questions about how the biological and optical mechanics of sight determine how we see and understand each other, and communicating a kinetic, palpable sense of the mysterious presence of energy throughout the universe.
‘Cylindrical Lenses,’ an exhibition of new large scale floor standing sculptures by Fred Eversley, is on view at David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles, through October 19, 2024, in conjunction with PST ART: Art & Science Collide, a landmark regional event presented by Getty that explores the intersections of art and science, both past and present. Eversley is included in two PST ART group exhibitions, Lumen: The Art & Science of Light at Getty Center and Particles and Waves: Southern California Abstraction and Modern Physics, 1945–1980 at the Palm Springs Art Museum. Recently Eversley presented his first outdoor resin work installation; ’Parabolic Light’ commissioned by Public Art Fund at Doris C. Freedman Plaza in New York’s Central Park, on view from September 2023 through August 2024. In 1977 Eversley was awarded his first public outdoor commission, ‘Parabolic Flight,’ by the Dade County Art in Public Places Program for the entrance to Miami International Airport. The sculpture is a conceptual interpretation of the Finnish engineer S.J. Savonius’s invention of the vertical-axis wind turbine, designed as a 35-feet tall pair of convex and concave conical stainless-steel mirrors reflecting the sky and surrounding environment. Since then Eversley has created numerous public commissions throughout his five-plus decade career.
Eversley has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, California (2022–2023); Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts (2017); Art + Practice, Los Angeles (2016); National Academy of Science, Washington, D.C. (1981); Palm Springs Art Museum, California (1977); Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, California (1976); and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (1970).
In the late fall of 2024, Eversley will be part of the major group exhibition Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now, opening November 17, 2024, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Recent group exhibitions include Light, Space, Surface: Selections from LACMA’s Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2023); Light and Space, Copenhagen Contemporary, Copenhagen (2021–2022); Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963–1983 (2017–2020, traveled to five venues); Space Shifters, Hayward Gallery, London (2018); Dynamo – A Century of Light and Motion in Art, Grand Palais, Paris (2013); Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945–1980 (Getty Foundation, 2011; traveled to Gropius Bau, Berlin, 2012).
His work is in the permanent collections of more than three dozen museums throughout the world, including Tate Modern, London; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas; Museum of Modern Art, New York; K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong; and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The first monograph dedicated to Eversley’s work was published by David Kordansky Gallery in 2022. Eversley lives and works in New York City.
About Related Ross:Led by visionary developer Stephen Ross, Related Ross is a fully integrated real estate firm with unparalleled expertise in mixed-use development. For more than 25 years, Related has led the transformation of West Palm Beach into one of the fastest growing cities in the nation to live, work and visit. Related Ross leads the market in Class A office with over 2.8M square feet of existing commercial holdings built and under construction. Known for luxury residential buildings, Related Ross is introducing a new class of rentals and condos to the market including The Laurel and South Flagler House. The company also developed and owns the most celebrated destinations in the region including CityPlace – the most visited neighborhood in the City, fostering culture and enriching the community with lush green spaces, a diverse mix of experiential retail and culinary offerings, the largest concentration of public art installed by a private company in Palm Beach County, educational programming and modern residences; as well as Hilton West Palm Beach, RH West Palm and the historic Harriet Himmel Theater. For more information about Related Ross, please visit www.relatedross.com.
