Pale Lens, Frederick John Eversley

Artwork Overview

Frederick John Eversley, Pale Lens
Frederick John Eversley, Pale Lens
Frederick John Eversley
Pale Lens
1970
Frederick John Eversley, artist
1941–2025
Pale Lens, 1970
Where object was made: Los Angeles area, California, United States
Material/technique: cast polyester
Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 50.8 x 50.8 x 17.8 cm
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 20 x 20 x 7 in
Credit line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Ward
Accession number: 1971.0052
On display: Kress Gallery
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Exhibition Label:
"Forms of Thought," Mar-2014, Kris Ercums
Originally trained as an engineer, Eversley began to experiment with optical polyester sculptural forms in the 1970s. His works reflect an interest in the metaphysical implications of light and energy. Please gaze through the lens to see another world.

Exhibition Label:
"Big Stuff: Contemporary Art from the Collection," Jun-1998
Eversley, who lives and works in California, was trained as an engineer. His optical polyester sculptural forms were influenced by contemporary sculptors who work with light, such as Larry Bell and Robert Irwin. Pale Lens results from his exploration of the internal and external geometric light effects he could produce from transparent cast polyester cylinders. He found that he could make a concave cylindral paraboloidal shape by casting the liquid plastic centrifically and that that shape would result in optical effects that varied as the spectator moved. The works reflect his interest in metaphysics and in concepts of light and energy.

Exhibitions

Decade of Transformation: American Art of the 1960s
David Cateforis, curator
1999
Forms of Thought
Kris Ercums, curator
2014–2015
Celebrate Black History Month at the Spencer Museum
Erin Suh Bolton, curator
2015
Big Stuff: Contemporary Art from the Collection
1998
African-American Works from the Collection
Andrea Norris, curator
1995
Forms of Thought
Kris Ercums, curator
2016–2021
Alumni Gifts to the University of Kansas Museum of Art
1973
Altered Perspectives
2019
Illumination
Kris Ercums, curator
2022–2027
Illumination
Kris Ercums, curator
2022–2027

Resources

Audio

Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
Audio Tour – Bulldog Podcast
1. Man has no Body distinct from his Soul; for that call’d Body is a portion of Soul discern'd by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age. 2. Energy is the only life, and is from the Body; and Reason is the bound or outward circumference of Energy. 3. Energy is Eternal Delight. -William Blake, 1793, in the “Marriage of Heaven and Hell". Energy. Something that may not seem beautiful, but in Pale Lens by Frederick John Eversley, it shows just that. The piece is based off the idea of the manipulation of energy, using materials such as cast polyester to do so. The piece was created in 1970 and is located in the Forms of Thought gallery, which is quite apropos, because of how abstract it is to outsiders, like the human mind itself. When I first walked up to the piece, I expected it to be like a mirror and show my reflection, but maybe that’s just me being vain. I chose this piece because of the way it made me think about a different way to see the world around me and how other people see it differently than I do. It showed other places in the room in a contorted manner, not unlike how someone’s thoughts might seem to another person. It also made me think about how things aren’t always what they seem and how you may expect one thing and find another because of the way I expected it to be like a mirror and it wasn’t. Another great aspect of this piece is how it makes you curious and gets you thinking about how it works. I started experimenting with it by hovering my hand by different sides of the piece (while making sure not to touch it because rules are rules) to see how it would reflect and I was really intrigued by the different ways my hand was shown. The amount of complexity in the design of Pale Lens is no coincidence seeing as Frederick was originally an engineer. His art was created as experimentation with the controlling of light and energy. The piece shows the beauty in curiosity, an understanding of the world, and how sometimes a little bit of a twisted perspective of the world around you can be a good thing, depending on how you look at it. This has been Nora Agah with another bulldog podcast.
Audio Tour – Bulldog Art Tour
Audio Tour – Bulldog Art Tour
Hear a SWMS student's perspective.
Audio Tour – Bulldog Art Tour
Hear a SWMS student's perspective.
Audio Tour – Bulldog Art Tour
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