Giant Spin Art

Spinning canvases at high speed, for fun.

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MAKE YOUR OWN...

We've described how to make your own giant spin art device in Make magazine Vol 25 in Jan 2011. Get the instructions at Make:Projects here!

GREAT SPIN ARTISTS IN HISTORY...

- Eugene Pera -

NY Times May 1 1960
The original spin artist, as far as we can tell, was Uruguayan painter Eugene Pera. In the late 1950s, Pera attached canvases to a cross fixed to machine parts that could spin at various speeds, and he threw glasses of color ink at them. Above: a glib comment from a NY Times critic about the spin art in Pera's 1960 retrospective. Does anyone have photos of Pera and his machine?

- Alfons Schilling -

Schilling closely followed Pera and appears to have been unaware of Pera's machine. Here's an English translation of his spin art story. (Image: from Schilling's web site)

- Annick Gendron -

French abstract painter, she made beautiful, fluid paintings using Plexiglas spinning on centrifuges, starting in the late 1960's. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

- Damien Hirst -

Damien's is bigger than ours. We're jealous, though we're pretty sure he had some technical help. Maybe a whole team of helpers with actual tool belts. Here, he's also got John Cusack. (Video: from John Cusack's MySpace page). Hirst credits a 1975 episode of Blue Peter for his ideas.

Giant spin art and truly gigantic spin art in the backyard.
Bob & Pete Goldstein

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