Catenary: Animating Art Within Geometry: Work by Doug Bosch

October 31 - January 10, 2010

Nesting Catenaries with Yellow detail, 2009 Graphite and tinted paper

Any child consigned to the back seat during a long car trip is familiar with the hypnotic dip and rise of the power lines, strung from pole to pole along the side of a highway. That familiar gentle curve has a scientific name: catenary. It is the U-shaped sag a hanging cord or cable will assume when supported at its ends and acted on only by its own weight. In his new body of work, Douglas Bosch explores the catenary "as image and sculptural form," imbuing the principle with "aesthetic dignity" in the process.

As a creator, Bosch has one foot in the art world and the other in the world of science. In 2007 he was researching how to make nylon thread when he became fascinated by the catenary curves the polymer naturally formed when he held the material between his hands during production.

In his artist's statement, Bosch explains, "My work utilizes both process and material for constituting much of its aesthetic virtue, and I have set my sights here on showcasing the nature of hand-made nylon, which is a clunky, primitive cousin to the commercial-grade product. This irregular, organic feature is pivotal to this body of work as it is in provocative contrast to the unblemished dimensions of the pure, mathematical catenary."

An artist whose process is as compelling as his product,
Doug Bosch has always pushed the boundaries of the visual
experience, making us question the relationships between
art, science and nature.
Nancy Whipple Grinnell
Curator