Nimbus, (2018)

Nimbus, 2018
Weathered Steel Sculpture
Tristan Al-Haddad, Atlanta, GA
Collection City of Minneapolis
Sketch: Tristan Al-Haddad

"Nimbus by Tristan Al-Haddad appears to defy gravity and levitate. The elliptical geometry of the monumental sculpture’s form relates to the shape of the Theater in the Round’s seating below while its weathered steel material sets up a dialogue with the Ptolemy’s Web sculpture nearby. Sited to align with the primary axis of Minneapolis Central Library’s atrium, Nimbus’ oculus — its circular opening – frames both the architecture and the sky.

Cantilevered 45-feet over the sidewalk, Nimbus is a feat of imagination, engineering and fabrication. Al-Haddad is both a visual artist and an architect who experiments and builds with unusual materials.
He hand-sketches ideas and then translates them to a computer program that produces a 360-degree view, enabling him to visualize how the sculpture might function in the library’s forecourt.

See how it feels to be beneath Nimbus’ sculptural canopy. What can you see through the oculus? Go inside the library. How does it look from the ground level? How is it different overlooking it from the mezzanine or upper floors?

From a sketched idea, to an electronic abstraction, and next, to a physical thing. Constructed like an airline wing, the sculpture is a series of puzzle-pieces that fit together into a seamless whole; heavy, rusty industrial material machined and welded into an elegant arcing, counter-balanced form. Its steel skin is perforated to create a light box and at night, floods the site with a halo of light.

Nimbus provides a frame or threshold for people passing through and together with the Theater in the Round creates a public place that is flexible and useful, but also an enveloping aesthetic experience."