Frank J. Malina

Frank J. Malina, Tableau Mobile—Hercules (Mobile picture—Hercules), 1960

Frank J. Malina was an innovator in the use of light in kinetic art. Tableau Mobile—Hercules is an example of his Lumidynes, rectangular boxes faced on a single side with painted Plexiglas and containing a motor-driven electronic program that produces gradually changing compositions of colored light. Although the artwork maintains an affinity with gestural, abstract painting—Malina called them his “kinetic paintings”—it is also the product of a carefully engineered process. Malina worked for many years in the United States as an aeronautical engineer before becoming disenchanted with the weaponization of technologies during World War II. In 1947 he moved to Paris and eventually devoted himself to artistic pursuits. In naming this work after the constellation Hercules, he underscored a link between the cosmos, abstraction, and kinetics.

Image credit

Frank J. Malina (American, 1912–1981), Tableau Mobile—Hercules (Mobile picture—Hercules), 1960. Lumidyne system: mirror, painted Plexiglas, light sources, and electric motor in painted wood box, 3/100, 11 x 11 x 4 1/8 in. (28 x 28 x 10.5 cm). Published by Edition MAT, Paris. Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Germany. Photo © Kunstmuseen Krefeld–Volker Döhne–ARTOTHEK.