Wen-Ying and London Tsai
Upward Falling Fountain with Rotary Roman Sphere
1985 and 2021
Copper tubing, welded aluminum tubing, digital motors, water pump, motor controllers, audio feedback control system, strobe lights
144 x 39 x 39 in
I remember the morning in 1978 when my father Wen-Ying Tsai made his exciting discovery that became the Upward Falling Fountain. He later got U.S. and Japanese patents for it. By 1985, he developed a fountainhead made of copper tubing. Helping him in those days with bending copper eventually led to my own bending and rolling of aluminum tubing. We had always talked about having an exhibition together, but it never happened. During the pandemic, it occurred to me that one of my rotor-generated space sculptures would fit perfectly in one of his fountains.