In Suffusion, Arthur Carter uses the principles of the Golden Mean to achieve harmony between the individual parts and a sense of balance and stability to the whole. The Golden Mean (also called the Golden Section and Divine Proportion) is a ratio derived by the ancient Greeks in which the ratio of the smaller part to the larger part is the same as the ratio of the larger part to the whole. It is found in the growth of many natural objects such as the spirals of a shell, the curve of a fern, and even as a general guideline to the proportions of the human body. Used by many architects and artists over time, the Golden Mean dates back to the construction of the Great Pyramids and the Parthenon.
The sculpture is painted blue for GW’s colors and installed on Kogon Plaza next to Lisner Auditorium. At night, the glow of the lights in the base and reflections off the garden wall on the side of Lisner softens the effect of the sculpture’s placement.