Fred Eversley’s Parabolic Light
By Henry Dansicker
Doris C. Freedman Plaza,
Central Park,
New York City
Fred Eversley is a pioneer in using light and energy to create art. Interested in science as a child, he would cast jello in parabolic objects – an experiment that, years later, inspired his artistry. Shifting to making art in 1967, he developed an innovative process of spin-casting liquid resin. In 1970, he cast his first full parabolic lens in polyester, setting the tone for his work over fifty years.
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One example is ‘Parabolic Light’, his first cast resin work, which stands in bold contrast to New York City’s greys and greens, tapering inward at its peak. The largest of his cylindrical lens collection, this twelve-foot statue celebrates the intrigue of optical illusion. Looking into the magenta void, people appear to move all at once, and the cityscape becomes stretched out in a sort of comic funhouse-ian way. It invites viewers to imagine, to see New York City through a playful lens.
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Eversley’s positive outlook and yearning for a less stressful future is also reflected (both physically and emotionally) in this complex piece. Depending on the sun’s position, the exhibition looked different each hour. Countless kids could be seen enamoured, smiling into the violet beam at the distorted pink city before them. ‘Parabolic Light’ also delightfully juxtaposed the natural and artificial, using synthetic agents to allow viewers a new and twisted perspective.
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The Brooklyn-born artist’s work is currently being featured in the exhibition Flight into Egypt: Black Artists and Ancient Egypt, 1876–Now, which opened on November 17th 2024, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Eversley says that his newest exhibition is “all about energy,” reflecting “the infinite combinations of internal reflections, refractions, colour changes, and other optical phenomena that one can experience within a single sculpture.” Judging by the palpable energy embodied in ‘Parabolic Light’, it should be well worth visiting. 