Two interactive welded steel sculptures in Russ RuBert's mega-exhibition of 160 works at the newly reopened Keyes Gallery stand out. Hurricane Fran (1999) twists upward toward its awkward leering mobile head. Viewers may grab onto the red silk ribbons of Fran's hair and run around the sculpture to send her steel head spinning. This twisted form activates the viewer; it was created using both Mac and IBM CAD programs and center-of-balance calculations.

Skyhook (1999), a slightly smaller work, makes a lovely gesture in space. The curving line ends in a super-hardened stainless steel point. which becomes a bearing. An unattached spiral balances on this point and orbits in a gentle wind. This lithe, moving work represents a spirit force inside us. The welding in these works make them appear seamless.

The artist's other works in metal included all sizes of cut-out biomorphic forms and a worked eight-foot-long naval brass conference table; most of these show a fascination with textural effects on flat surfaces. Some gaudy "paintings" layer cut-out iron swirls over psychedelic Pollock-style acrylics on lexan. RuBert's intriguing, time exposure photos using dye-sub chemical processes were notable for their intense color A clever construction, Neonwood (1999) combined old fixtures into a piece about signs.

On a gallery walk through Springfield, this show stood out for its gleaming metal and its garnish lighting effects, which seemed influenced in part by the artist's experiences as a student at the Kansas City Art Institute assisting Dale Eldridge on large light projects. Parts of this show—the moving pieces, the photos, and the neon sign—might be well received in a city like Los Angeles. Locally, computer art by others is largely and safely Postmodernist, with pointed references to art of the past and with little or no freehand design, in contrast to RuBert's combination of freehand drawing and high-tech metal construction.

RuBert indirectly pays homage to Mark di Suvero and Isamu Noguchi by showing his own fascination with movement through space and time. This fascination is evident in the artist's commissions, which include Eternal Flame (1992), an impressive 21-foot-tall naval brass freeform work for the Mid-America Cancer Center, and EchoSphere (1987), a 20-foot-tall interactive kinetic sculpture at Southwest Missouri State University, both in Springfield, Missouri.