The Project

Welcome to George Rickey: An Evolution, a temporary public art exhibition featuring the artwork of George Rickey.

Harnessing The Wind

As one of the earth's natural elements, wind is a powerful constant in each of our lives. Yet for most of us the nature of wind, and the subtle, ever-changing force it wields, remains largely a mystery.

Born in South Bend, Indiana in 1907, internationally-recognized artist George Rickey spent the last four decades of his life creating simple, elegant sculptures that used that constant to create motion that may best be described as tranquil, mesmerizing and hypnotic. Rickey crafted his sculptures with extreme precision from stainless steel and used gravity and physics to explore concepts of motion and balance driven by the sparest effects caused by the breeze and surrounding environment.

George Rickey: An Evolution highlights Rickey's extraordinary career. This temporary public art exhibition features 10 monumental sculptures by the late artist. Each sculpture showcases the mesmerizing motion that continues to make his work famous, and all can be found in a public space in downtown Indianapolis from May 5th, 2009 through September 7th, 2009.

Produced by the Arts Council of Indianapolis, with the support of the Indianapolis Cultural Development Commission, George Rickey: An Evolution is the fourth in the city's on-going series of temporary exhibitions in public spaces. This show follows exhibitions by renowned artists Tom Otterness (2005), Julian Opie (2006-2007), and Chakaia Booker (2008-2009). These exhibitions have garnered international attention and resulted in permanent acquisitions for the city.

The graceful nature of Rickey's work is immediate yet belies the artist's lifelong interest in engineering principles, and the persistent trial and error that yielded refined artworks capable of elegantly delicate movement, even at large scale. Each of the temporary exhibitions was created to bring new perspectives to the Indianapolis cityscape, and to continue the city's approach of using public art installations of many kinds to inspire our public spaces. The 10 downtown sculptures were selected to continue that tradition.

George Rickey: An Evolution is joined by a survey of Rickey's life and career featuring rare, early works at the Indianapolis Art Center. Entitled A Life in Art: Works by George Rickey (June 26 - August 23, 2009), the survey will feature 40 of Rickey's artworks, including early portrait and still life paintings, Works Progress Administration (WPA) mural studies, small sculptures, late pastel floral studies and models of his renowned kinetic sculptures. On loan from the Estate of George Rickey and the George Rickey Foundation, and presented by Jane Fortune, Robert R. Hesse, William L. Fortune, Jr. and Joseph D. Blakley, many of the artworks have not been exhibited publicly before. Five additional medium sized sculptures are installed in the Indianapolis Art Center's 12-acre sculpture park, ARTSPARK.

George Rickey: An Evolution was produced using private funding from the Indianapolis Cultural Development Commission through a grant from Lilly Endowment and the support of the Estate of George Rickey and the George Rickey Foundation. Special thanks to Stuart's Moving & Storage, Inc.

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