When we think of sculptures, we tend to imagine a static object frozen in time. But J.C. Fontanive, a visual artist based in Queens, makes sculptures that move. 

Fontanive’s flipbook machines take inspiration from the natural fluttering of birds and butterflies to depict how machines (and our eyes) can create a fluid illusion of movement. These moving sculptures invite the viewer to experience the images, their patterns of movement, and the behavior of the machine all at once. “The tangible nature of physics and ideas of air resistance, friction, gravity, and the function and form of the work are very much entwined,” he says. 

Fontanive’s kinetic sculptures, including the Ornithology and Vivarium series, ask a fundamental question: How do we perceive the illusion of motion?