The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Roughly rectangular sculpture made of fine, clear tubes glowing white as they catch the light and webbing to create multiple levels of geometric shapes. The central level features a "U"-shape made three-dimensional with another "U"-shape glowing within it. This is suspended by rectangles that create a box around it, each wrapping around a side, with a gap between them in the middle. They lift the "U"-shape up, as it also extends above their edge.

Matrix Series: Catenary Ellipsoid...Bi

2010

Brent Kee Young

(American, b. 1946)
America
lampwork glass
Overall: 88.9 x 55.9 x 28 cm (35 x 22 x 11 in.)
Gift of Linda Burwasser Schneider 2010.156
Location: 228A Cleveland Artists

Did You Know?

The artist defined form using only light and line in this sculpture.

Description

Young's latest work consists of thin rods of Pyrex glass that are heated and assembled with great facility into web-like sculptures that, in his words, address the question, "Can form be defined using only light and line?"Many of the resulting pieces reveal the artist's keen interests in calculus and geometry. In this example, two catenary curves have been "rotated" into a three-dimensional form that is suspended amid a rectilinear compositional base, which, in turn, is bisected down its middle.
  • In Honor of The Cleveland Arts Prize. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 13, 2010-March 13, 2011).
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (06/13/2010 - 03/13/2011): "In Honor of the Cleveland Arts Prize"
  • {{cite web|title=Matrix Series: Catenary Ellipsoid...Bi|url=false|author=Brent Kee Young|year=2010|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2010.156