When you walk into the Autodesk Gallery at One Market, the first exhibit you see is from Bruce Beasley.

As an Autodesk Gallery Ambassador, this is a great exhibit to start a tour with because it's the opposite of what most people expect. As a CAD (Computer Aided Design) software vendor, since the exhibit is in our gallery, most tour takers assume the sculpture was produced by CNC (Computer Numerical Control) milling, but that would be wrong. Instead I tell the story of sculptor, Bruce Beasley, and how he originally worked with clay, but then became interested in computers, used Autodesk Inventor (one of our mechanical design programs) to design a pleasing shape, and then 3D printed his design.

The small scale model (pictured above) was then sent to a village in China, where they have been carving stone for hundreds of years, and a scaled up version was created the old fashioned way. So contrary to expectations, computers were used for the inspiration, not the fabrication.

Last night I attended a gallery premiere that featured new creations from Bruce Beasley.

Bruce is now embracing 3D printing as an art form in and of itself. Art historian, critic, and instructor of critical thinking at Otis College of Art and Design, Marlene Doktorczyk-Donohue, said it best: "Beasley uses a 3D printer and Autodesk software [Alias, 3ds Max, Inventor] to generate his subtlest digital calibrations, laying down detailed ribbons of hot liquid plastic in ascending layers to effortlessly realize [his] complex, expressive ideas... Here we see a noted fine art sculptor with undeniable credentials in art history employ the increasingly fashionable modern 3D printing to produce significant works of fine art, not the pop trinket applications hyped in the current press."

Corporate Event Manager, Julia Papapietro McFarland, noted that the new pieces are very similar to the Autodesk product imagery from the creative team, especially Maya, Alias, and 3ds Max. Very fitting!

So now it can be safely said that Autodesk software is used to imagine, design, and create better art.

The gallery at One Market is open to the public on Wednesdays and Fridays from 10 am to 5 pm, and admission is free. Visit us.

Art is alive in the lab.