''Happy-Go-Luckies of Nature and Technology'' is a public artwork by German artist Guido Brink located on the

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscons ...

campus, which is near

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

, United States. The sculpture is a steel structure that is painted red. It was dedicated at UWM's Lapham Hall on October 23, 1992.

Description

''Happy-Go-Luckies of Nature and Technology'' is a red kinetic sculpture consisting of three legs that become four abstracted heads resting on open arms. There is a propeller with three blades at the center of the sculpture. "Abstracted humanoid forms have geometric cut shapes around perimeter and geometric-shaped negative spaces. Head forms have three disks and one arrow mounted on stainless steel rods."http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!siartinventories&uri=full=3100001~!335154~!0 , SIRIS.

Historical information

The sculpture was funded by the Wisconsin

Percent for Art The term percent for art refers to a program, often a city ordinance, where a fee, usually some percentage of the project cost, is placed on large scale development projects in order to fund and install public art. The details of such programs va ...

program as part of Lapham Hall's new addition. It was commissioned by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.Buck, Diane M. and Virginia A. Palmer (1995). ''Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee: A Cultural and Historical Guidebook'', p. 94. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison ''Happy-Go-Luckies of Nature and Technology'' was installed by the artist on the south side of Lapham Hall and dedicated in October 1992.

Artist

Guido Brink was born in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second- ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1913. He came to New York as a teenager with the purpose of working at A.L. Brink Studios, his uncle's stained glass studio. The artist returned to Germany after three years in the United States, and attended the State Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf where he studied under Maximillian Clarenbach. "Brink vividly recalls his experience as a young art student compelled by Hitler, along with other art students, to view the famous 1937 exhibition of ''Degenerate Art,'' organized at the former Munich Architectural Institute. Contrary to Hitler's intentions, the young artists were excited by the so-called

degenerate art Degenerate art (german: Entartete Kunst was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, ...

and would in time develop new directions in their own work inspired by the modern art of the condemned artists."http://www.delindgallery.com/website/index.php?section=81 , Delind Gallery. He was drafted by the German Army upon graduation and sent to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, where he fought on the front. The artist moved to New York City with his wife Ello in 1952. "The couple came to Milwaukee in 1953 for Brink to work as a stained glass window artist for the Conrad Schmitt Studios. They settled in Milwaukee where Ello worked as architectural critic for ''The

Milwaukee Journal The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

''; in 1953 Guido became a faculty member at the

Layton School of Art The Layton School of Art was a post-secondary school located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Originally affiliated with the Layton Art Gallery, it was established by Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frink in September 1920 in the basement of the buildi ...

where he remained until its closing in 1974." Brink began his career as a painter, yet was intrigued by three-dimensional works. He thus turned to Milwaukee's craftspeople to translate his paintings into sculpture. For more than twenty years Brink was an artists in residence at Super Steel Products Corporation where he produced his humanoid sculptures. "These flat, angular profiles positioned in poetic angles are free-standing works, mostly in brightly painted metal. Sometimes referred to as "Techno-Spirits," these sculptures are the artist's signature works." ''Happy-Go-Luckies of Nature and Technology'' falls into this category.

References

External links

{{University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Outdoor sculptures in Milwaukee University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee 1992 sculptures Steel sculptures in Wisconsin Kinetic sculptures in the United States