Raymond T. Forsberg
Riverside Galleries
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Exhibitions are planned to interpret and expand upon the permanent collection and focus on Midwest Art, American Crafts, and Haitian and Caribbean Art & Artifacts.

Current Exhibition:
Springs Sprockets & Pulleys
The Mechanical Sculptures
of Steve Gerberich



Press a button or crank a wheel and Steve Gerberich’s sculptures come to life. A flock of decoy geese overhead flap open suitcase wings. A wooden cow with hooves clad in high-top sneakers is milked endlessly by an over-enterprising farmer. These and many other witty motion machines are brought together in Gerberich’s Gadgetry: The Mechanical Sculptures of Steve Gerberich, an exhibition which will delight youngsters of all ages. Bridging the gap between fine art and fun, Gerberich’s gadgets have been described by Charles Osgood of CBS Sunday Morning as “common objects, made uncommon” and NBC Today Show’s Gene Shalit has called them “brilliantly eccentric” and “ingenious”.

Constructed from old machine parts, kitchen utensils, pieces of furniture, lighting fixtures, medical supplies, toys and carnival figurines, Gerberich’s work offers viewers a unique way to interact with contemporary sculpture, explore the principles of simple mechanical motion or simply ponder the remarkable inventiveness of art.

A painter and photographer by training, Iowa-born sculptor Steve Gerberich cites Marcel Duchamp, Alexander Calder, and Paul Klee as inspirations for his work. Looking at a simple teapot, Gerberich sees a face, ready for the addition of eyes made of nuts and bolts, and ears fashioned out of faucet handles. A small blade reminds him of a friend’s eyebrows. In his hands, the hood of a bright red lawnmower becomes the body of a razor-jawed sea creature with the addition of two light bulbs as beaming eyes. And by pushing buttons and turning cranks, Gerberich invites audiences to set these works in motion.

Gerberich is a problem solver who uses basic mechanical systems to realize solutions. His evolved gadgetry has turned into a profession. After graduating from the University of Northern Iowa in the early 1980’s with a BFA in photography, Stephen Gerberich moved to New York City. Here Gerberich’s photography soon began to transform into large-scale storefront window installations. Once Gerberich’s work broke “out of the box” and loose into wild, expanded environs, there was no putting them back into small spaces or quiet still lifes. His self-taught mechanical skills began here.

Everything he collects eventually becomes a part of his work. Gerberich’s Brooklyn studio, itself a piece of art, is an amazing place chock full of the oddest collection of resources, as if some preposterous mechanical genie escaped the bottle and went for a whirl through Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe. 

Support for exhibition of Gerberich’s Gadgetry is provided by The Guernsey Foundation and the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa. Opening this summer, the exhibition will remain on view through December.



www.gerbomatic.com