Frank Smullin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 March 1943 |
| Died | 14 November 1983 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Queens College |
| Notable work | "Fit to be tied", "Untitled" (Boston University) |
| Style | Analytic Constructivism |
Frank Mayer Smullin (10 March 1943 - 14 November 1983) was an American sculptor known for pioneering computer-aided methods in art and for his large welded tubular sculptures.[1]
Frank Smullin was born on 10 March 1943 to Ruth Smullin and to MIT electrical engineer Louis Smullin. A native of Cambridge, MA, Smullin graduated from Watertown schools and the Cambridge School of Weston before going on to earn a bachelor's in biology at Harvard University and a Master of Fine Arts at Queens College in 1972.[2][3] He was a Fellow from 1979 to 1980 at MIT's Center for Advanced Visual Studies and Sculpture Space in Utica, New York, which helped enable him to make large-scale works.[1][4]
Smullin married Ruth Ann Spivak and had twin daughters,[3] and went on to teach design and art at Duke University,[2] where his interdisciplinary course "Structures" was co-taught by Smullin together with the zoologist Steve Wainwright and engineer George Pearsall.[5] Smullin passed away following a cerebral aneurism in his studio on 14 November 1983 at the age of 40.[3]
Smullin's art, which he referred to as Analytic Constructivism,[6] includes massive sheet metal sculptures found around university campuses on the East Coast, including Boston University,[4] Columbia University,[7] and MIT. Three pieces are also held at the Smithsonian Institution.[8]
In 1981, Smullin gave a keynote lecture about his tubular sculptures and techniques at a design conference in Nashville, paying particular attention to the granny-knot, which he found to have "an artistically much more interesting, 3-dimensional structure than the functionally preferred, but much flatter square-knot."[9] Smullin had written a computer programme called SCULPT to assist with the vector analysis in his design process, implemented on a Tektronix 4052.[10] He was calculating the elliptic intersections and producing computer-generated outlines of his sculptures which he would color by hand; he would then use a pen-plotter to produce a scale cardboard model, before finally cutting a rolling the final sheet-metal version; his techniques left a lasting influence on computer scientist Carlo Séquin, who was in the audience.[9]