Friday, September 14, 2018

Artist of the day, September 14: Patrick Shearn (Poetic Kinetics), American artist, large-scale kinetic art installations

Patrick Shearn has most recently focused his art on pioneering new uses for large-scale kinetic art installations while creating Poetic Kinetics to evolve from collaborations between skilled artists in diverse realms seeking new creative expressions. This team brings an adventurous & enthusiastic spirit, an exploration of technology, and a deep commitment to top notch production value to each new endeavor. Their passion and dedication take them far, creating magic around the world.

Artist Patrick Shearn focuses on nature, science and discovery to create interactive and experiential kinetic sculpture. The team is a collaboration of skilled artists in diverse realms seeking new creative expressions through scientific principles and processes to inspire, mystify and educate people about sustainability.

Poetic Kinetics is a collaboration between various artists, led by Patrick Shearn. Poetic Kinetics has been commissioned for large scale public art projects across the United States and abroad including Coachella Music Festival, Insomniac Festival, Burning Man and for the City of El Paso, Texas.

© 2018. All images are copyrighted © Patrick Shearn/Poetic Kinetics. The use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained.



Mr Patrick Shearn


The Aztec Pavilion is a permanent installation commissioned by the City of El Paso, Texas with the assistance of a federal Renewable Energy Demonstration grant. The sculpture is composed entirely of CorTen steel and features ceiling rings intricately cut to form a copy of the Aztec Calendar.  9 solar panels collect energy to power AC outlets & lighting, returning unused power to the city grid.  Educational signage near the structure provides an introduction to solar technology and a detailed description of how the pavilion works.






The Electric Daisy

The Electric Daisy evolved from our Hope Flower, an art piece brought to Burning 2005.  We debuted this piece at the 2012 Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas in all it’s Electric glory.  Built around a 125′ articulating aerial man-lift, this sculpture stands 140′ tall at full extension and features 45,000 programmable LEDs.





ESCAPE VELOCITY

Poetic Kinetics, known for their large-scale interactive kinetic art, introduced “Escape Velocity” to Coachella Music and Arts Festival on April 11-20, 2014. The 36’ tall x 57’ long x 40’ wide mobile Astronaut amazed fans and performers during the festival, hovering over concertgoers, interacting with them as they passed by. Radio-controlled animatronics gave it the ability to articulate life-like gestures, such as peace and thumbs up signs. Video projection mapping allowed participants to have their face projected into the helmet visor as well as have their name appear on the suit’s nametag.








Caterpillar’s Longing
 
Caterpillar’s Longing is Poetic Kinetics’ Coachella 2015 art project.  It encompasses two pieces, Papilio Merraculous (the caterpillar), and Desiderium Eruca (the butterfly).  Together they create one piece symbolizing the social appetites of our youth in the journey of self-discovery and personal transformation, turning an eye to the everyday miracles we so frequently take for granted.







Fire in Balance

Fire in Balance, a 2014 Burning Man art piece.  Expanding on the success of the Burning Man honorarium piece ‘Holding Flame’, Fire in Balance is an installation made up of an inverted fire box suspended within a pagoda-like steel structural frame surrounded by a series of fire dishes and fire towers. The entire structure is clad in laser cut facade creating a mysterious and engaging aesthetic with a comfortable, unique environment inside for
people to gather and experience the extraordinary beauty of inverted fire.



Helix Poeticus

Helix Poeticus – Also Known as Coachella Snail.
One of the breakout stars of this year’s Coachella (2013) had nothing to do with the musical acts. The carefree, slow-going Helix Poeticus – affectionately dubbed Coachella Snail – was perhaps one of the most photographed features from the festival.









LIQUID SHARD

Liquid Shard dazzled downtown Los Angeles as a surprise to the city from July 28th to August 11th 2016.  This large-scale, kinetic sculpture made of holographic mylar and monofilament was installed across Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles.  The piece spans 15,000 sq ft. and is comprised of two layers that rise from 15 feet off the ground to 115 feet in the air.

“The inspiration comes from observing nature and the feeling that we are only aware on a very surface level of what is really going on around us. Unexpected things revealed in time-lapse or hyper-spectrum photography fascinate me. Like fractals recurring progressively, we feel the currents of air on our skin but do not see the larger movements.  I wanted to play in that realm with this piece.”- Patrick Shearn.

 





Holding Flame

Holding Flame was created in 2009 by Patrick Shearn and Cynthia Washburn, co-founders of Poetic Kinetics.  This stunning piece was awarded the Honorarium Grant from Black Rock Arts Foundation partially funding it’s debut at Burning Man that year.  The steel facade was designed by Cynthia and is inspired by a style of doodling she has done her entire life.  The inverted fire flame effect was developed by Patrick while doing visual effects filming and has been further refined as a distinct art form that Poetic Kinetics has developed to safely experience the unique warmth and beauty of inverted fire.
 





HOPE FLOWER & VENUS FLYTRAP

Behold an 80′ tall flower art car created for Burning Man 2005.





Neo Prayer Flag

Berlin 2017: Neo Prayer Flag was an exhibit created specifically for the Olympus Perspective Playground held at in Berlin Germany at the Kraftwerk building.

Neo Prayer Flag is a 750 m2 installation created from metallized plastic streamers on monofilament netting, rope, elastic cord and wind currents. Suspended so that it can take advantage of movements in the surrounding air, the installation reveals small currents at play in the streamers, while fans direct the dynamic motion of the entire surface.

The shimmering, wind-borne shape dancing above the street invites passers-by to follow its winding path through the raw beams and girders of the Kraftwerk space. Searching for the perfect perspective or finding the artwork’s source provides viewers with an opportunity to re-engage an older way of thinking and liberate a childlike state of being. The work provides an evanescent and ephemeral viewing experience that mesmerizes the viewer, just like a murmuration of starlings or a school of sardines.






PRIUS SOLAR FLOWER LOUNGE

This traveling installation consisted of 5 wi-fi enabled flower sculptures which each included seating for 10 people.  Created for and inspired by Toyota’s “Harmony Between Man, Nature, and Machine” campaign, the sculptures combined form and function via the addition of flexible solar panels on the back of each petal, which powered outlets for use in recharging cell phones and laptops. The Solar Flower Lounge consisted of custom cut and bent powder coated aluminum stalks, petals and leaves and molded polyethyelyne benches.  Solar panels charged interior batteries used to power 110V outlets, and 3G wireless internet nodes were located in the flower heads. 

Color changing LED lighting provided atmosphere and illumination during nighttime hours. Installations: Various Cities, US, 2009  The Prius Solar Flowers are currently on exhibit at Toyota Headquarters in Torrance, CA








“Nimbus,” is the work of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s artist-collaborator, Yuval Sharon, in conjunction with composer Rand Steiger and artist Patrick Shearn.

Nimbus is an installation that transforms a transitional space into a performance site. The installation acts as a timepiece for Walt Disney Concert Hall as Rand Steiger’s commissioned music changes over the course of the day, alternating between computer generated musical atmospheres and compositions built from material recorded by soloists from the Los Angeles Philharmonic. These pieces, spatially distributed over 32 speakers, alternate with periods of silence interrupted by brief related sounds triggered by motion sensors.







 The Solar Sunflowers were a prototype of two 25′ tall animatronic solar powered flower sculptures built with financial assistance from Black Rock Solar. Embedded with solar cells, the flowers tracked the sun throughout the day and interact with seated viewers. The flowers provided AC outlets for charging portable devices and decorative illumination at night. The prototypes debuted at the San Francisco Exploratorium on Oct 7, 2010.

Installations:  Exploratium Science Museum, San Francisco, 2010





Brought to life as a daily performance during the Beijing Olympics, “The Warrior and the Girl” is a simple story of friendship and peace told through giant puppetry, aerial performance, animatronics and modern dance… with the aid of heavy equipment.  The performance was commissioned by Olympics sponsor Johnson & Johnson as a part of their “Because We Care, We Act” campaign.

A 22’ tall terracotta warrior suspended from an 80 ton construction crane and a 15’ tall Chinese girl rigged to a 40’ boom forklift move together throughout the performance area during this 20 minute choreographed piece with the aid of 40 dancers/puppeteers.  Radio controlled facial features enliven and animate the marionettes, while a radio controlled butterfly guides the characters through the story with the aid of an aerialist performer in flight.

Installations:  Olympic Live Site, Beijing China, 2008

‘The Warrior and The Girl’ Marionettes are currently on display at the Terracotta Warrior Museum in Xi’an, China.










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