The Art Stories

Momentum

In a gift shop in Singapore…

Next, I’ll take you to a nice restaurant. Jeff, thanks to you, our trip to Singapore is lots of fun! Let’s go! We’ve bought

Oh! lots of gifts!

There is a huge Christmas tree by the road!

That’s not a Christmas tree. It’s a sculpture.

This sculpture is huge! Momentum is 18.35 metres tall. It’s currently the tallest outdoor sculpture in Singapore. What a special sculpture! Can we go and see it?

I’ll park the car, then we can walk over and have a look.

This sculpture is called Momentum. It was created by David Gerstein

in 2007.

The human figures on the sculpture appear like an upward spiral, representing a continuous cycle of progress.

The sculpture is composed of many human figures.

Yes, Gerstein is a painter as well. He blends painting into his sculptures. There are 175 human figures in the sculpture.

The human figures are colourfully painted.

The sculptures I’ve seen before are colourless. But Momentum is brightly-coloured.

It’s so eye-catching.

Instead of displaying his works in museums, Gerstein prefers creating outdoor sculptures.

Gerstein. I’d like to see his other works. It looks like Ian is quite hungry. Let’s go to the restaurant. His outdoor sculptures are all over Asia, Europe

I’m interested in the outdoor sculptures of

I think we can do that.

and North America. Ha, ha, ha!

Gloo! Gloo!

Momentum is a metal sculpture that was created by me. How many human figures create this sculpture? In which country can you see it?

David Gerstein

David Gerstein was born in 1944 in Jerusalem, Israel. He is an outstanding artist and public art creator. He is well known for his unique art of cut metal sculptures with personal characteristics.

In David’s creations, the colours used are bright and vivid and the way he expresses his art is contagious. The Momentum sculpture in the central business district of Singapore is one of his classic works.

It took David Gerstein about two months to design the entire Momentum sculpture and two years to complete it.

Tree Shade Can Move

It’s cool here. I’ll take a nap. I’m hot and exhausted. I need to find a place

to rest. There’s shade under this tree. I’ll rest here.

Did he take my shade away? I didn’t take away your shade. It was already on this side when I got here. Where’s my tree shade? Why has it disappeared?

Why did you take away my shade

while I was asleep?

Now I Know! Now I Know!

Light travels in straight lines. When light is blocked by an *opaque object, it creates dark shade. That is a shadow.

*opaque: not allowing light through, not see through

I don’t believe it!

How can tree shade move? If you still don’t believe me, you can wait here. Let’s see if the tree shade can move itself. It is the sun that moved

the shade.

You’ve seen it with your own eyes. Now do you believe me?

Okay, I want to see what

After a period of time...

will happen. Yes. I’m sorry. I got you all wrong.

Now I Know! Now I Know!

The size and shape of a shadow varies with the angle of the light.

About Shadows…

Any opaque object under the sun causes a shadow.

In the morning, shadows point to the west; at noon, to the north and in the afternoon, to the east. Changes in the sun’s position can cause the shadows in the morning and evening to become longer. But at noon, the shadows are shorter.

The farther away an object is from a light source, the smaller the shadow will be. On the other hand, the closer an object is to a light source, the larger the shadow will be. People occasionally use shadows to make shadow games such as hand shadows and shadow puppetry.