Peter Krško
Detail from one of Peter Krško’s geometric works.
Ask Peter Krško to name his artistic muse, and the Slovakian scientist-turned-artist is likely to draw your attention to the perfectly formed hexagonal cells of honeycomb. The work of hundreds of bees operating in unison, the honeycomb’s uniformity, economy and repetition strike a chord in all of us, he says.
The phenomenon is called tessellation, defined as the tiling of a surface in one or more dimensions using one or more geometric shapes with no overlaps or gaps. The elements in the pattern — whether made by humans or found in nature — rely on the sides of those around it to create their shape. It’s a central theme in Krško’s sculpture, which forms a focal point of LOOK: Tropical Tessellations, an exhibit at Olbrich Botanical Gardens’ Bolz Conservatory. The show, which also features the work of metal sculptor Robert Anderson, runs Feb. 16 through March 24.
Life sometimes imitates art, but art more often imitates nature, says Krško, who holds a doctorate in biophysics and materials science from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Krško, who now lives in the Juneau County village of Wonewoc, operates at the confluence of science and art. Locally, he’s best known for serving as UW-Madison’s interdisciplinary artist-in-residence in 2017. His position was supported by the university’s departments of biological systems engineering, art, design studies and physics.
“The whole field of biomimicry in art is new,” says Krško, who has no formal artistic training. “Art has the advantage of flexibility and freedom, and I think we would benefit by getting rid of the wall between science and art.”
His Olbrich installation consists of five large metal sculptures and a handful of smaller ones. His work mirrors the tessellation found in natural environments, something enhanced by Bolz’s tropical plant-scape, he says.
Olbrich Botanical Gardens
One of Robert Anderson’s origami-inspired bird sculptures.
Anderson’s work, most notably his garden kaleidoscopes and origami-inspired pieces, also mirrors tessellations. But the Olbrich installation also will include the artist’s “inflated” steel sculptures that offer an entirely different dimension of his work.
Born in Seattle and raised in Stoughton, Anderson holds a degree in limnology freshwater ecology from UW-Stevens Point. He was working as a maintenance engineer when he began experimenting with steel sculpture. Experimentation led to his creation of inflated steel pieces.
“I usually bend and weld several pieces of steel together and make a form that has no volume,” says Anderson, who does most of his work on his Door County farm south of Sturgeon Bay. “I then ‘blow up’ the steel using 15 to 60 pounds of pressure per square inch depending on the size of steel piece. The result is a softer-looking sculpture, like something made out of plastic.”
Robert Anderson
Robert Anderson creates sculptural kaleidoscopes, which will be on display at Olbrich's Bolz Conservatory.
Anderson has other work displayed at Olbrich and at other locations in the Madison area as well throughout the U.S., Canada and Japan.
Anderson’s main contributions to the tessellation theme come through the placement of three garden kaleidoscopes, which will create their own patterns using the conservatory’s tropical plants. The kaleidoscopes encourage viewer involvement with the art.
“I like interaction,” Anderson says. “People don’t talk to each other anymore. It’s an important part of my art to get them to slow down, interact with the piece and maybe with each other.”
Krško agrees. The uniformity of a honeycomb is the result of hundreds of individual entities working side by side — and equally. It’s an enterprise from which humans could learn something, he says.
“I’d like visitors to think about the symmetry of the work and why it might be essential to esthetic beauty,” says Krško. “Maybe this will be an opportunity to rediscover something inside each of us.”
