Synchronetic L-110 (prototype)

Fletcher Benton

A working prototype for the kinetic Op Art sculpture "Synchronetic L-110", which was published in an edition of 100 for Galeria Bonino (New York). Motorized shifting acrylic cutouts, illuminated by a bulb, move in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, creating ever-changing colored moire patterns.

Benton, who had always admire engineering and craftsmanship, moved from easel painting to what he thought of as paintings using light. He experimented with kinetic, three-dimensional works, which he began stripping down to the most basic elements, circles, squares, etc. In 1964 he exhibited at the Esther Robles Gallery in San Francisco, CA - "Kinetic Sculpture by Fletcher Benton".

This concept, "Synchronetic L-110", was created in an edition of 100 around 1968 by Galeria Bonino, 7 W. 57th Street, New York and was advertised in a full-page ad in Art in America, Nov/Dec. 1969. This edition was 5-1/2" deep.

Benton became one of the foremost kinetic sculptors in the late 60s but he shifted to larger static work in the early 1970s, focusing on numbers and other simple shapes assembled in incongruous ways.

More information on the artist's "kinetic years" can be found on his website, fletcherbenton.com; see one of the sculptures in action at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOjaTFxFkyg.

Though unsigned this sculpture comes with a receipt from the Fletcher Benton Studio from February of 1991 for a repair Benton did to replace the moire light. The note, from 1991, also suggests a replacement value of $5,000.00, our current retail.