13 Facts About George Rhoads

George Rhoads was a contemporary American painter, sculptor and origami master.

George Rhoads was best known for his whimsical audiokinetic sculptures in airports, science museums, shopping malls, children's hospitals, and other public places throughout the world.

George Rhoads's father, Paul S Rhoads, was a physician and professor of internal medicine at Northwestern University.

George Rhoads attended the University of Chicago with the goal of studying physics and mathematics.

George Rhoads's work focused on portraits and impressionistic cityscapes, but he was not critically or financially successful.

George Rhoads created his first rolling ball machine in the late 1950s.

George Rhoads continued to develop his audio-kinetic sculptures and his work gained national prominence after being fshown on The David Frost Show and Today.

George Rhoads' sculptures became known for their precise clockwork-like mechanisms governed by weight and timing while still maintaining the appearance of spontaneity and randomness.

George Rhoads promoted the concept that the machine itself was a work of art, and his pieces were designed to demystify machinery and stimulate viewer reaction.

In 1990, George Rhoads created a kinetic rolling ball sculpture titled Newton's Dream that was installed at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

George Rhoads' sculptures have been installed in public spaces and private collections around the world.

George Rhoads continues to use the techniques developed by Rhoads in its ball machine sculptures by incorporating similar fabrication methods, design elements and strategies for making reliable, long lasting sculptures.

George Rhoads died at his son's home in Chinon, France, on July 9,2021, at the age of 95.