Fred Eversley (b. 1941, Brooklyn, NY) is a pioneer of the Light and Space art movement, which originated in Southern California in the 1960s. Interested in science as a teen, he experimented by casting jello in a pie pan on a spinning turntable, thus creating his first parabolic surface. His fascination with the parabola—the only shape that focuses all forms of energy to a single point—continued in his career as an engineer designing acoustical testing laboratories for the aerospace industry. Eversley, who shifted to making art in 1967, developed an innovative process of spin-casting liquid resin. In 1970 he cast his first full parabolic lens in polyester, launching a body of work which would become his principal focus for over fifty years.
Parabolic Light is Eversley’s first cast resin work made for outdoor display and the largest to date in the Cylindrical Lens series. His choice of magenta contrasts with the surrounding landscape. The form’s tapering thickness naturally results in a subtle color gradation. Its physical scale and transparent clarity allow us to experience a range of optical phenomena. The sun’s refracting and reflecting waves of light are bent and refocused, shifting with every angle. We perceive ourselves and our environment differently. For the artist, heightened awareness of both our inner and outer worlds holds transformative potential. Through an abstract art of clarified energy, Eversley’s Parabolic Light invites us into the realm of spiritual imagination.