John has been interested in creating large-scale kinetic public art since his initial exploration of 3D concepts in 2007, some of which can be viewed on the galleries page in the Large Scale & Initial 3D Works section. Working with a concept of allowing his distinctive watercolor painting style to expand into three dimensions, the preliminary studies involved curved, cut paper painted shapes and wire frameworks, and culminated in 2010’s The Rapture, a 9′ tall human figure, viewable in the Turner Center, Bradenton, and Mt. Dora Figure As Vehicle galleries.
The paper constructions effectively translated John’s distinctive Controlled Chaos technique, but a material with more permanence was needed to test the concepts in an actual full-scale piece. In 2013, Icarus Ascends, premiering at the Mount Dora Center for the Arts in Mount Dora, Florida, brought an example of the long-visualized idea to reality.
Weighing perhaps 30lbs max, constructed of twisted aluminum, stainless steel and hand-painted silk, with expansive dimensions of 13×16′ feet, the sculpture soared high above the art center for two months, eliciting an amazed and enthusiastic reception from thousands of visitors. The complexity of the composition resulted in an ever-changing shape from different viewing angles, accented by the vibrant color of the translucent, backlit silk, which many observers mistook for stained glass at first glance.
Moving forward John is enthusiastically pitching his concepts to interested parties for use in both public (transit stations, lobbies, schools, libraries) and private (office atriums, arenas, theater spaces, hospitals) buildings. Pieces can be created to mimic existing architerctural shapes, be purely abstract designs, or kinetic representations of whimsical creatures (a flowing school of fish, a flock of birds), or anything which could add dynamic color and a sense of beautiful motion to a space. Soaring atriums can be filled with hanging structures, while more intimate settings can having something of smaller scale, free-standing or wall-mounted. The possibilities are vast. A few suggested examples are displayed in the gallery below. Please contact John for more information, or to discuss a project.
