DISC II: pi
Appearing like a dancer in the Pasodoble, whirling a cape behind it, this piece has a dramatic flair. It was, in fact, a highly challenging piece to make.
The light, floating appearance results from the piece only having two small points of contact with the ground - the point of the cone and the edge of the disk. The Rule applies, the disc being 30° from the horizontal, the 90° upright cone attached 2/3rds from the disc edge to its centre . It acts similarly to a highly sensitive spirit level, requiring a precisely horizontal surface to stand perfectly upright.
To achieve this, instead of the obvious visual placement for the cone, at the point of the missing segment, the cone rests off-centre, it’s point positioned accurately to within fractions of a millimetre to create perfect balance.
A sculptural piece from the studio DISC Series that resulted from a fascinating collaboration with research mathematician Frank Rhodes, exploring 2D geometry in the 3D world. See the story here:https://martynpugh.co.uk/news-and-events/
It’s a group of objects whose forms all begin as a single flat disk of silver with identical dimensions.
I chose to make the collection using satisfyingly thick silver that has been given a variety of finishes to emphasise the different elements of the forms. A layer of clear, archive quality lacquer obviates cleaning, making the daily display of the objects totally practical.
I have indulged my inner engineer by the positioning and proportions of the components of each piece to conform to a common Rule - they are carefully calibrated to use only measurements that are whole fractions of 360°. This imbues each piece with a natural, harmonic balance.
Dimensions: 20cms wide x 10.5cms high