Sculpture: Merlin with Magnets

Sculpture must defy gravity, says Alberto Collie, and by using magnets he performs feats of levitation with objects made of aluminum, copper and magnesium. Though Collie's magnetized sculptures do not soar with full air borne freedom, they do hover and float* above their pedestals, attached by almost imperceptible nylon strings. The effect is playful and magical-rather like Collie himself, who combines the hot-eyed zeal of a young Merlin with the twinkle-eyed grin of a boy with a toy. Collie, 25, calls his works spatial-absolutes: spatial because they are floating in space, absolute because "the true essence of a...

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