Allele

Allele, 1997

William Carlson

Courtyard between the Department of Biochemistry and College of Dentistry

University of Illinois at Chicago campus

700 South Halsted Street

            Commissioned by the Art-in-Architecture Program of the Illinois Capital Development Fund, this 16 foot-tall granite sculpture is located near Terrence Karpowicz’s Symbiotic Parallax. Both sculptures play with the use of negative space within monumental forms, Karpowicz using Cor-ten steel while Carlson works with granite. 

           Like Carlson’s other work in the city, Delicato Balencia, located near Lincoln Park Zoo, this sculpture features rough-hewn rectilinear forms surrounding a shiny sphere. Here, the spherical shape seems delicately balanced within the four segments, which are firmly positioned but not perfectly lined up. As if shaken by a tremor, the work plays upon the tension of weightiness and potential movement.