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Electric Architectural Sculptures

The Online Exhibit

Postlogue







Bergen Boogie - 1958
Inspired by Piet Mondrain's 1940s oil painting, "Broadway Boogie". Balsa wood and plastics.
Owned by Baumann family







Oil Refinery - 1964
Owned by Tyler Art Gallery, SUNY Oswego







Lantern - 1965
Owned by Baumann family






City Structures - 1965
Brazed brass construction with low-voltage lighting. Inspired by Rockefeller Center under construction (early 1930s).
3' x 1' x 1'
Owned by Baumann family






City Shapes - 1965
Alternative title: Castle in Space
Plexiglas construction. 3' x 1' x 1'
Available






City In Space - 1966
Constructed of wood, plastic, glass, and metal, electric lights and motors.
Six moons orbit through "star windows" on a three minute cycle. Radio tower lights flash randomly at four corners. 3' x 2' x 1' deep
Available







Pressure System (detail) - 1966
Metal construction. 6' x 2' x1'
Owned by Broughton Corporation, Glens Falls, NY





Cathedral - 1965 (preliminary model)
Rotates at 1 rpm. Constructed of balsawood and colored cellophane. Final to be in brazed brass and plexiglas.
3' x 1' x 1'
Owned by Faith United Church, Oswego, NY








In Room Light









In the Dark
Land of Oz - 1966
Rotates at 1 rpm, with several lights flashing. Constructed of miscellaneous metal,
glass and plastic trash, plus copper tubing. 4' high x 2' dia.
Owned by Baumann family





Computer Complex - 1966
Didn't know much about computers at the time (and still don't). Constructed of beer and baby juice cans, copper tubing, cigar boxes, fake pearls, etc., and many flashing lights. 6' x 2' x 1' deep
Owned by NY State University at Albany






Martian Megastructure - 1967
Four banks of elevators in continuous operation in see-through glass tubes. Florescent plastic construction under ultra-violet light within. 4' x 1' x 1'
Available






Habitat 2067 - 1967












Habitat 2067 (partial view)

Rotates at 1 rpm under ultra-violet light. Plexiglas construction. 3' high in 4' high case
Available





Box Fugue
Box Fugue - 1968
Available






Growth Pattern
Growth Pattern - 1968
Available







Power Tower - 1977
Owned by Syracuse Museum of Science & Technology







Sixpack - 1979
Plexiglas construction around 4' florescent tube. 4.5' x 1' x 1'
Owned by Syracuse Museum of Science & Technology






Nuclear Powered Liquid Chemical Re-Processing Plant! - 1981
Alternative title: Tank Farm
Constructed of wood, metal, plastic, etc., with fiber optic and LED light. 40" x 32" x 6"
Owned by Syracuse Museum of Science & Technology






Lights in the Darks
Lights in the Darks - 1981
Available






Moonbase
Moon Base - 1982?
Owned by Syracuse Museum of Science & Technology






The Night Visitors - 1982
Styrofoam heads in wood and plastic construction. 20" x 30" x 14" deep
Available






The Generator - 1983
Plexiglas forms mounted on 7 receding layers of glass for 'infinity' effect. 20" x 30" x 14" deep
Available






The Wizard's Place - 1984
Wood and Plexiglas construction with internal lighting. 14" x 14" x 14"
Owned by Baumann family






Megastructure on the Moon - 1985
Electric tourist trolley operates on 8 levels of continuous trakage from top to bottom and back on 3 minute cycle. 4 banks of elevators operate continuously in see-through glass tubes, ala Hyatt Regency hotels. Constructed of wood, metal and plastics, plus several electrical systems. 6' long x 2.5' high x 2' deep
Owned by Syracuse Museum of Science & Technology






Castle - 1986
Gatorfoam construction, with trolley and train on automatic operation.
6' x 2' x 2' on 4' x 4' x 1' village base
Owned by Syracuse Museum of Science & Technology






Tank Town
Tank Town - 1999
Owned by Syracuse Museum of Science & Technology







Kaleidobox - 2000
LET THERE BE LIGHT
Carl Baumann looks over his latest "LICON" (lighted construction) at his Alpha Gallery in Oswego. Constructed of wood & plastic, and with 80 miniature lights within, the color patterns change as the viewer moves around it, hence the name. 32"x20"x20"
Not Available

Photo by Harrison Wilde, Oswego Palladium Times -- Jan. 16, 2001



POSTLOGUE:
"A Light in the Dark" - 1932

Among the more pleasant memories of 1930's childhood is being awakened in the late of night by the steam engine sounds of a "slow freight" as it passed by a block east of my suburban New Jersey home, huffing and puffing upgrade on its way from the Weehauken Terminal to points north in upstate New York. The throaty two-tone steam whistle sounded at each of the several grade crossings in town, gradually fading into the northerly night. These were comforting sounds, reassuring me that I was safely at home, and not in the strange faraway places of the dreams from which I'd been awakened.

I'd usually fall right back into sleep, but one night there came another, gentler sound, close behind that of the receding freight train - the clippity-clop of a slow-moving horse-drawn milkwagon, making its pre-dawn deliveries to my neighborhood. A pause in the clippity-clop sound would be filled in with the clinkety-clink of basketed milk bottles being hurriedly carried to the milk boxes on the doorsteps and porches of our street.

I arose from bed to see the maker of all that clatter. What I saw from the streetside window of my room was a distant light in the dark, moving slowly and intermittently towards me, barely illuminating the vehicle which carried it. Horse-drawn wagons didn't need headlights - the horses knew where they were going and what they were doing. The only light needed, a kerosene lantern, hung in the cab, and was for the milkman to load up his delivery basket with the right products for the households along his route...So there was this single point of light moving towards me in the dark, a fascinating vision indelibly implanted in my child's mind...As you may have noticed, it's still with me!


That light in the dark, and especially the moving light in the dark, became the germseeds of a later fascination with a constructed form of sculpture. Designed to be seen in the dark, they become visible by the lighting effects built into them. Now there's a gallery full of these things, called "LiCons" (lighted constructions), and you're invited to come have a look, herein. And bring the kids, but above all bring the kid in yourself, or else you might not "get it!"


RAILYARD - 2001
Constructed of wood, matboard, metal & plastic; with fiber-optic lighting.
32" x 19" x 2" deep
Owned by Baumann family friend


POSTLOGUE #2:
Last Word - Really!

Much of my youth was spent happily building model trains and planes, these interests overcome in later teen years by football, basketball and cheerleaders. A first flight in a real airplane redirected my eyes to the sky, where they've been almost ever since. Thanks to WWII and the U.S. Navy, I learned to fly. The view from the air, combined with a post-war G.I. Bill training and subsequent experience in architecture and urban planning have been the keystones of my artistic vision ever since. Space, architecture and technology have been my long time companions.

I still fly as of this writing, but now my eyes look more down at familiar earthscapes than up into mystical space. My later works, such as "Megastructure on the Moon" and "Castle" portend a coming down to Earth again, and incorporate a "first love" of model trains in their contexts. My most recent works (not shown herein) are 3D "airscapes" of our rural and urban habitats, pleasing to contemplate, but not as "far out" as earlier themes. It seems I'm returning to whence I came, and so it goes...

Meanwhile, follow your bliss, and don't wait until retirement to do it.
By then it might be too late!



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