Artist Eyal Gever Freezes Dramatic Moments in Large, Highly Detailed 3D Printed Sculptures

“My sculptures are created from software I have developed,” Eyal Gever writes. “Uncontrollable power, unpredictability and cataclysmic extremes are the sources for my work. They inspire, fascinate and remind me of the constant fragility and beauty of human-life. Beauty can come from the strangest of places, in the most horrific events. My art addresses these notions of destruction and beauty, the collisions of opposites, fear and attraction, seduction and betrayal, from the most tender brutalities to the most devastating sensitivities. I oscillate between these opposites.”

If you’re at EuroMold in Frankfurt this week, go now over to Hall 11, Booth FN01. Go right now, and enjoy it in person — if nothing else, enjoy it for me, because I am not there, and am suddenly very put out about this fact.

There are some exhibits that reach out and grab your attention and really make you feel something; maybe uncomfortable, maybe even anxious, but you definitely feel. And Eyal Gever‘s works are on display at Stratasys‘ “The Sixth Element” collection in their booth at EuroMold November 25-28, ready and waiting to grab, shake, or move you. The works, from Gever’s “Sublime Moments” series of 3D designed and printed sculptures, capture and freezes powerful moments of time–so we can be witnesses to these moments as well.

While all artwork captures static moments in time, there’s a big difference between passively viewing the painting of James McNeill Whistler’s mother sitting in a chair and actively walking around a frozen, black waterfall or experiencing the very instant a balloon has popped.  These are a just a few examples of Gever’s growing body of 3D sculptures on exhibit; he definitely invites his audience to be part of the cathartic moments captured in his pieces.

Eyal Gever

Eyal Gever has been a full-time sculptor since September 2010. Before that, he was an award-winning innovator in technology and multimedia design, as well as the founder and CEO of technology companies Zapa Digital Arts and Gizmoz.  He also co-founded Daz3D after Daz3D and Gizmoz merged early in 2010. The sculptor certainly has plenty of experience — over 18 years — bringing his visions to life via 3D technology. As the available technology has advanced, so has Gever’s use of it.

His “Sublime Moments” series features pieces “influenced by the destructive impact within our environment,” brought alive in three stages: 3D simulations, sculptural moments, and digital prints.

“Using my own proprietary 3D physical simulation technologies, I have developed computational models for physical simulation, computer animation, and geometric modeling,” Gever writes as his statement on his website. “Combining applied mathematics, computer science, and engineering, my work captures and freezes catastrophic situations as cathartic experiences.”

Four pieces from “Sublime Moments” are on display now at EuroMold in Stratasys’ third and final artist collaboration in “The Sixth Element” collection. The pieces were created using Gever’s vision and Stratasys’ Objet1000 3D printer. This 3D Production System was the only real option for Gever’s massive works, which require precise detail and a pretty large scale, as well as different material properties.

PIECE OF OCEAN, designed by Eyal Gever

 “In order to bring these pieces to life,” said Gever, “I needed a technology that could best replicate each of these moments, while maintaining the emotion attached to them; this why I chose Stratasys 3D printing. The Objet1000 is truly unique as it provides designers unparalleled detail – as seen in PIECE OF OCEAN when capturing waves in motion – but shows no compromise when it comes to producing colossal pieces like COLLISION. This truly is an inspirational technology.”

Along with WATERFALL, PIECE OF OCEAN captures a frozen moment of fluidity. The movement seems genuine, the materials pristine — everything about these pieces speak to Gever’s view of water’s consistently powerful expression. Using Stratasys’ Vero 3D printing materials, the sculptures feature exceptional detail, smooth surfaces, dimensional stability, and a translucence quite appropriate to their watery subjects.

WATERFALL, designed by Eyal Gever

SPHERE POP, on the other hand, captures not the majesty of natural phenomena but the element of surprise itself. Think of the last time you were around a balloon that popped; I bet that even if you were expecting it, you still jumped when it popped! If you were watching it, you would see a fully inflated balloon almost instantaneously become, with a loud and striking sound, a little flat piece of rubber. To actually see it, though, you would need a high-speed camera to watch the moment of the burst — and that’s where SPHERE POP comes in. It captures the instant between a “something” and a “nothing,” catching you just as off-guard as you might be witnessing a real balloon pop. In order to get that level of emotion into a static piece, Gever utilized the Objet1000’s ability to create ultra-fine detail in an overall smooth surface.  He then painted it in bold purple.

SPHERE POP, designed by Eyal Gever

The last piece on display at EuroMold, COLLISION | TRUCK VS TRUCK, expresses another high-impact instant. We’re all aware of the devastating physical and emotional impressions a vehicle crash can leave.  But it is difficult to reflect on the moment directly after the initial impact, when all motion has suddenly stopped and for just a moment everything is static–before the aftermath really kicks in. This sculpture grabs that still and crushed moment, that instant between impact and action.  The Objet1000’s wide format capabilities, combined with high resolution print, brings that to the forefront of the COLLISION piece.

COLLISION | TRUCK VS TRUCK, designed by Eyal Gever

“After 10 years of collaboration with Eyal producing 3D printed art, he has challenged us to create our largest 3D printed sculptures yet,” explains Naomi Kaempfer, Stratasys Creative Director Art Fashion Design. “This has been a fantastic opportunity for us to present the full power of our large format Objet1000 3D Multi-material Production System, showing the design world that beyond just size, artists can use this technology to unleash the mind and produce high resolution kinetic forms in material properties that they can engineer on-the-fly. We hope this will inspire more designers to literally think big when it comes to the possibilities beyond traditional fabrication.”

Have you checked these sculptures out in person? Let us know what you thought! We’d love to see photos or hear first-hand impressions. What do you think about Stratasys’ collaborations with artists in “The Sixth Dimension” collection? Tell us what your thoughts are in the Sublime Moments forum thread at 3DPB.com.