Kites - Stuart Allen
Stuart Allen is an artist whose work deals with fundamental elements of perception such as light, time, gravity and space. He has shown photographs, kites and sculpture in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and abroad. His work is found in many private and public collections including the Tokyo Kite Museum, the Crocker Art Museum, the DiRosa Art Preserve, UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, and U.S. Embassy collections in Canada, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, and the Republic of Georgia. Allen has completed permanent public art commissions for the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada and the Police Headquarters building in Davis, CA. His work has been published in a variety of books and journals including: Picturing California’s Other Landscape: the Great Central Valley, Terra Nova: Nature and Culture, You Are Here: the Journal of Creative Geography, Zyzzyva and Artweek. Allen has lectured or served as a visiting artist at many fine institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Weisman Art Museum, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and a number of university art departments nationwide. Allen studied architecture at Kansas University and graduated from the photography and video department of the Kansas City Art Institute in 1994. He lives in San Antonio, Texas with his wife Kelly Lyons, their daughter Aidan and son Vincent. Allen is represented by the following galleries: PDNB, Dallas, TX; JayJay, Sacramento, CA; Jan Manton Art, Brisbane, Australia; Haw Contemporary, Kansas City, MO.
Stuart Allen, artist, photographer, sculptor, public art, kite, kite maker, art consultant, Jayjay, haw contemporary, pdnb gallery, science and art
-1
archive,tax-portfolio_category,term-kites,term-119,stockholm-core-2.1.2,select-child-theme-ver-1.0.0,select-theme-ver-7.1,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,qode_menu_,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-6.5.0,vc_responsive,elementor-default,elementor-kit-15382

Archive

October 6, 2015

Kite Table

Kite Table, 2015
galvanized steel, powder coated steel
table: 10′ x 6′ x 32″
light fixture: 15′ x 6′ x 18″

Permanent installation: Hemisfair Park, San Antonio, TX

The Kite Table is a platform for gathering and a cross-cultural reference point. The form is derived from folded paper, but fabricated with plate steel. The table top is an abstracted reference to a diamond kite, the most recognizable of western kite shapes. Etched onto the surface of the table are diagrams for making kites from four different countries: Japan, Korea, Guatemala and the United States – all countries that had a presence during the HemisFair ’68 World’s Fair. In addition to the diagram, a web address is etched into the surface where visitors can find additional information about the construction and cultural significance of each kite style. Standing next to the table is a custom light fixture that references a kite in flight.

The kite-making instructions on the table’s surface are explicit, but the primary intent is to inspire individuals and families to engage in a fulfilling outdoor activity. In this sense, the table is a conceptual object, suggesting the potential of open public space coupled with imagination.

For more information about the Kite Table: CLICK HERE

Collection of the City of San Antonio, commissioned through Public Art San Antonio.

December 2, 2014

Low Resolution Kites

Low Resolution Kites, 2010
pigment prints on Tyvek, bamboo, string, 2010
dimensions – square: 35″ x 25″, tall: 84″ x  19″

from the Artist Statement:

Regardless of its size in the studio or on the ground, any kite will be eaten up by the enormity of the sky. It’s humbling to spend days or months working on a large piece, then send it aloft and watch it sink into the vastness of the sky. Kites are designed to recede in space – to travel away from the viewer. I am interested in playing with that change in viewing distance. Up close, the heavily pixilated imagery is an abstraction. Viewed from a distance the pixels resolve into a recognizable image.

December 2, 2014

Aloft

Aloft, 2010
U.V. ink on aluminum, string
5 pieces: each 9′ x 2′ x 80′

temporary installation: San Antonio International Airport
permanent installation: Rackspace, San Antonio, TX

Panel text courtesy of Rackspace:

Allen has been working with kites since the early 1990’s. He has constructed hundreds of them, from tiny objects flown on a thread, to aluminum sails designed to fly underwater, to huge paper and bamboo kites that require several adults to manage. The installation at Rackspace, entitled ALOFT, incorporates five kite forms that are based on traditional Japanese kite designs. Extremely low-resolution images of the sky are printed on the aluminum surface of the kites. Allen explains the connection between the imagery and kites as follows:

Regardless of its size in the studio or on the ground, any kite will be eaten up by the enormity of the sky. It’s humbling to spend days or months working on a large piece and then send it aloft to watch it sink into the vastness of the sky. Kites are designed to recede in space – to travel away from the viewer. I am interested in playing with that change in viewing distance. Up close, the heavily pixilated imagery is an abstraction. Viewed from a distance the pixels resolve into a recognizable image.

December 2, 2014

35 Minutes of Air

35 Box Kites: each 398 cubic inches, the volume of air I breathe in one minute at rest, 2009
sailcloth, fiberglass, string
each kite: 7 3/8″ x 7 3/8″ x 7 3/8″,
overall: 60″ x 60″ x 60″
temporary installation: Gensler Architects, Houston, TX

December 2, 2014

30 Minutes of Air

30 Minutes of Air: each kite 398 cubic inches, the approximate volume of air I breathe in one minute at rest, 2008
sailcloth, fiberglass, string,
each piece: 7 3/8″ x 7 3/8″ x 7 3/8″ overall: approx. 12′ x 9′ x 3′
permanent installation: South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, San Antonio, TX

Commissioned for the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, 30 Minutes of Air is a consideration of respiration, rhythm and the passage of time. As the title suggests, each kite encloses a space equivalent to the artist’s tidal volume over the course of one minute: 30 Kites = 30 Minutes of Air.

Notes:
– Tidal volume is the volume of air inspired or expired in a single breath during regular breathing.
– 13 breaths per minute at approx. 30.63 cu. inches = 398.19 cu. inches per minute.

December 2, 2014

Paper Bag Kites

A project inspired by a grocery bag. In 2007, the Texas-based Central Market stores began using a paper bag bearing a clever little narrative about how the bag would like to be made into a kite. Ranging in size from 18 in. to over 6 ft. tall, these kites are constructed from those paper bags. All are based on traditional kite designs: some Eastern, some Western.

Click here for more information.

December 2, 2014

60 Minutes of Air

60 Minutes of Air: each 398 cubic inches, the volume of air I breathe in one minute at rest, 2008
sailcloth, fiberglass, string
each piece: 7 3/8″ x 7 3/8″ x 7 3/8″
overall: approx. 16′ x 8′ x 6′
temporary installation: JayJay, Sacramento, CA

December 2, 2014

Air and Water Kites

A Kite for Flying in Water, 2007
aluminum, stainless steel, string,
25″ x 38″ x 3″

A Kite for Flying in Air, 2007
sailcloth, maple, string,
25″ x 38″ x 3″

December 2, 2014

Box Kite: 23,890 Cubic Inches

Box Kite: 23,890 cu. Inches: Approximate Volume of Air I Breathe in One Hour (at rest), 2007
sailcloth, maple, spruce, stainless hardware
28.8″ x 28.8″ x 28.8″

Excerpt from a review by Michael Abetemarco, THE Magazine

… Consider Allen’s Box Kite: 23,890 cu. inches / Approximate Volume of Air / Breathe in One Hour (at rest), which is exactly what it says it is: the approximate volume of breath produced in one hour while at rest expressed in cubic inches. This information has no bearing on whether or not it can actually be flown, but like his other kites, including one designed for flying under water, it probably can. But Box Kite brings us back to the idea of constructs as the extension of breath and voice, which also have measurable qualities.

Allen’s work puts us in mind of the symbiotic relationship of man-made machines with the temporal conditions that enable their use, but with an inherent respect for the conditions themselves: ever changing despite attempts to measure and contain them.

For the complete article click here.

December 2, 2014

Red and White Kites

A series of 16 red and white based on traditional Japanese designs. They are made of ripstop nylon sailcloth and fiberglass spars. Each measures 8 feet by 2 feet. The 7 arching strings that make up their bridles are approximately 100 feet long. This network of string orients the kite to the proper flying angle and introduces the drag necessary for stable flight.

temporary installations:
101 California Street, San Francisco, CA, 2003
Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, MN, 2004
San Antonio College, San Antonio, TX,
Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, San Antonio, TX,