Homage to David Smith

Michael Todd, 1973

This brushed aluminum sculpture is located in the Central courtyard at the Visual Arts Center. It was an Art Alliance purchase following an exhibiton in the Main Art Gallery. This sculpture was originally exhibited in the Main Art Gallery exhibition, Michael Todd: Circle Series 1970-1972.

For Todd, the circle is an arena in which to retrieve harmony from chaos and refers to it as a cosmos—using the space within and suggesting the larger space beyond. This work is influenced by Japanese abstraction and formalist concerns and is a tribute to a sculptor David Smith, much admired by the artist. Similar to other sculptures in the Cal State Fullerton collection, it has strong geometric forms but because of its symbolic references it is more connected to the utopian abstract styles of early modernism rather than the geometric reductions of minimalism.

Michael Todd (1935– ) earned his B.F.A. from the University of Notre Dame and a M.A. degree from UCLA. He went on to study further in Paris under a Fulbright scholarship. He has taught in Vermont and in California. His sculpture has been shown throughout the United States and is represented in museum collections including the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.