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Morton Rachofsky1983/1984 - TSA Founding President
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| TSA Shows and Information: | Artist Spotlight Interview - August, 2011 |
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HIS ROOTS, HIS INFLUENCES, HIS WORK Although Dallas-born Morton Rachofsky’s roots are in Texas, he is already considered by many well beyond a regional sculptor and an emerging American sculptor. His works are already in corporate and private collections, not just in Texas but elsewhere as well. |
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Rachofsky studied with the noted Mexican-American Master Sculptor Octavio Medellin at the Dallas Museum of Fine Art, then at Southern Methodist University with contemporary fine art sculptor James Surls, whose work has been shown at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. His major influence, however, has been the internationally renowned Spanish sculptor Miguel Berrocal. Rachofsky’s exacting spatial relationships and his assembling and reassembling of the integral pieces that define his stainless steel and wood sculptures parallel the Spaniard’s fascination with mathematics and the precision of his interlocking components. |
 His beginnings may seem unusual for an artist, what with a BBA from Texas A&M and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Graduate School of Business. However, both schools nurtured the analytical and mathematical bent evidenced in his approach to sculpture. In fact, some of Rachofsky’s collectors have said that many of his abstract works suggest financial bar charts to them.
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Similarly, his subsequent career in commercial real estate provided outlets for his interest in architecture—in buildings and infrastructure—whose influence shows up in his body of work. Many of his sculptures suggest architectural concerns with the grouping of forms in space and with lines suggesting skyscrapers and pyramids. Also influencing his art has been his longtime interest in puzzles, in exploring possibilities, in developing ideas—some of which led to patents, as for a binary abacus, a three-dimensional puzzle, and a highly publicized 25-hour clock. That influence can be seen in how he initially conceives a sculpture, then looks at ways it can be rearranged to transform it completely. Rachofsky’s sculptures have been exhibited at some 60 art expositions and have been installed at the Museum of Geometric and MADI Art. The Dallas Bar Association, The Legacy at Preston Hollow, and Chaparral Steel are corporate collectors of his work, as are more than 20 private collectors. The Texas Sculpture Association elected him its founding president. SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT MY ART First comes the inspiration, the idea—in geometric, three-dimensional form. I toss it around in my mind. I continue to experiment with it. It begins to grow, to take shape. I make it real. I give it life. Sometimes in wood, but usually in stainless steel. |
Often, I use rearrangeable square-faced stainless steel rods to construct a piece. I may paint the piece red. It’s a color I see as an action color, one that brings out the best in geometric sculpture. Working with wooden blocks, I may cover them in symmetrical lines of primary colors. I look at the construction. I ask myself what are other possibilities? What if I take away one side? What if I flip an angle? What if I flip the work itself? What if I place it upside down? What if I move it off center? What if I remove some of the rods? |
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The sculpture changes. It transforms itself. One of my larger pieces, “Cornucopia, Variation #96,” is 16 feet tall. It weighs some 2,600 pounds. It consists of 96 levels of Xs formed out of two-inch by two-inch steel tubing, with the bottom X 97 inches by 97 inches and each X progressively smaller than the one underneath it. Each X is turned and shifted in relation to the one underneath, based on a formula designed to give the overall sculpture maximum motion and style. As you move around the sculpture, it seems to take on a different shape, providing a sense of discovery, and, as the sun moves across the sky, the slowly changing shadows give the sculpture a whole new look. Near the other end of the spectrum of my work are the “Cuboid Series” A to J. Each table-size series consists of 20 units of complete or incomplete cubes of 3/8-inch square-faced stainless steel rods stacked to form various configurations. Each cube set offers myriad possible variations: stand alone or facing each other or at angles of each other; square-based cubes, plus two triangles to the same corner, or plus two verticals on opposite corners; or cubes with one or two legs missing. Patrons and viewers can explore the possibilities, as I have. They can experiment, as I have. They can reconfigure or subtract the rods, as it pleases them. They can express their own creativity. In all my work, even though it may involve a process based on experimenting with geometric formulas, I start with an inspiration, a vision, an idea. The idea evolves during the process. It continues to evolve as I explore possibilities. The end is an aesthetic whole…. |