A review of the wood sculpture work of Robert Longhurst

Sculpture artist Robert Longhurst has labored in wood sculpture since the 1970's, producing some of the most intriguing and exquisitely flowing works to be seen. A good sample of his work can be seen on his studio webpage, where the beautiful piece on the frontpage is representative. Although Robert Longhurst admits to not using computers in any phase of his production, it is difficult to imagine how he bypasses computerized design. His finished pieces exude a mathematical precision in their form. And yet one recognizes that they are beyond mathematics. The complex symmetry of Arabesque XLII, shown here, is but one example where he has gone beyond any simple mathematical description.

Longhurst chooses exotic wood, such as bubinga here, to add interest to the form itself. Other exotic woods employed are amaranth and occume mahogany. In many cases, the grain of the wood seems to flow with the lines of the form, thus enhancing the overall effect. He achieves the final forms by tedious carving, shaping, and sanding, using smaller models as a guide The craftsmanship is superb, with many fine and delicate details seemingly impossible in wood. Some of his works could be represented fairly closely with mathematical equations in parametric form. Some actually are minimal surfaces, such as the Costa surface; this is a field still very much in development in mathematical topology. Realizing that Longhurst's forms have sprung from his mind, normally unrelated to mathematics, one can see that this goes both ways: mathematics can dictate the form, or the form can challenge the mathematics for definition. See Ivar Peterson's narrative of his quest for a mathematical description of one of Longhurst's original designs.