Slipstream

Slipstream is a 5m large-scale stainless-steel sculpture for the inaugural China Hengshui International Urban Sculpture Festival 2019, where I was the specially invited overseas artist, appointed by the China Sculpture Institute, Beijing. There were 2700 entries from 544 artists from 38 countries. Thirty artists were selected for this exhibition.

The judging panel consisted of delegates from, Tsinghua University, CAFA, China Cultural History Promotion Industry, China Sculpture Institute, and other high-profile institutions throughout China. The aim of the exhibition was to promote this region of China as a tourist destination and elevate the ecological initiatives of this ancient Province.

Slipstream is part of a series of sculptures exploring concepts of how discreet airflow can be realised in tangible sculptural form. The stainless-steel reflective surfaces enhance the idea of air-movement by forcing the viewers gaze through and around the interlinking arced forms of my sculpture. The mirror polished surfaces capture the light, colour and movement of the surroundings, adding to the concept of a barely discernible breath of air.

Futurist artists (such as Umberto Boccioni) captured the idea of machine movement in the early phases of the C21st, by representing ideas of speed and mechanisation, Slipstream investigates another, but more subtle sensation of movement by exploring how the shapes of air-current can be echoed in sculptural form.

Background research included exploring ways of capturing implied movement, such as the regimented movement of a conductor’s baton: or in the drawings of Leonardo, how water movement and velocity can be captured via an accumulation of abstract lines on paper.

Furthermore, there’s a long-standing tradition for exploring the implied movement in the surfaces of a sculpture, (from Michelangelo to Richard Deacon) in order to understand its overall form: a central tenet of Slipstream, where its form is indelibly linked to its underpinning concept idea.

Slipstream. October 2019 – present day (Large-scale sculpture: Primary outcome/ exhibition/permanent display) 3.4 x 5.2 x 2.8-meter mirror polished stainless-steel sculpture Ecological Hengshui International Urban Sculpture Exhibition Hengshui: China Fabricators: Huari Bronze Art Co. October 2019– present day (Permanent Display) Conference & Invited Lecture Conference and Lecture. John Atkin “Sculpture Parks in the UK” October 11th Huari Sculpture Art Museum