automata Tag

21 Mar

Posted at 17:50h in News by
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Yesterday the New York Times ran an article by Trevor Tondro about the fabulous home of Jonathan and Wendy Segal in San Diego.  The impeccable taste of its owners was demonstrated by the placement of two of my smaller pieces: “Psychos-O-matic” and “A Head for Numbers” (Works by Dan Jones were also shown but not credited).  Its always a joy for me to see where these pieces wind up, especially when its in homes as lovely as this.

20140320-LOCATION-slide-MXRX-superJumboPhoto: Trevor Tondro

PsychosOmatic20092“Pyschos-O-Matic” 2009 Photo: Cameron Platt

 

Numbers“A Head for Numbers” 2009 Photo: Nemo Gould

 

06 Feb

Posted at 19:32h in News by
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I’m super excited to be able to share final images and video for my series of Cephalopods commissioned by the Monterey Bay Aquarium!  The pieces are destined for the upcoming exhibit “Tentacles: The Astounding Lives of Octopuses, Squid and Cuttlefishes,” opening April 12, 2014. These pieces will help tell stories about the impacts that pollution, overfishing and habitat destruction have on these animals.  The project has truly been a dream come true for me and I’ll be sure to post images of the pieces once they are installed among real sea creatures in April.  I will also be displaying these pieces briefly at an open house event in my studio Saturday March 15th.  Stay tuned for details to follow.

In the mean time I’ve posted details of each piece individually: Cuttlefish, Octopus, and Nautilus here on my site, and put together a quick video overview of all three (above).  Below is a very cool little video that the Aquarium produced about the making of the pieces as well as a few teaser images of finished pieces:

Octopus_low_res4 Cuttlefish_low_res_7 Nautilus_low_res6

27 Nov

Posted at 00:03h in studio, work in process by
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IMG_3673IMG_3670The Octopus I posted a while back finally has a home!  I settled on a deep blue fade background with beveled side mirrors to create a sort of infinity effect.  The real trick was getting all of the seaweed (refrigerator coolant lines) to twist in sync with each other.  This was important because I wanted to create the effect of a current running through the “tank”.  They are powered by the motor from the seat adjust mechanism from a BMW sedan.  I found it ran a little fast so the large gear was added to slow the speed and raise the torque of the system.

The long, ugly cuts in the center are to allow for strips of LEDs to illuminate the interior.  I’m pretty anxious now to move on to that stage so I can see how it looks all lit up.

A good deal of work still remains.  I hope to better develop the floor and raise the Octopus higher to better center it in the frame.  More little jelly fish will also be added to the background.