The "sky beneath" offers a link between the earthly and the celestial.
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Copyright © 2013 SSchechter LLC
2007
collaboration with Ralph Helmick
dimensions: 10’ diameter 3’ d
materials: steel, stainless steel, acrylic, motor, LED lighting
site: Dallas South Central Police Substation, Dallas, TX
commissioned by: Office of Cultural Affairs
Perspective, a kinetic sculpture for the new South Dallas Police Substation, expands the dimensional parameters of the building entrance by occupying a zone beneath the lobby's terrazzo floor. In an experience akin to that offered by a glass-bottomed boat, visitors can gaze down through an enormous sheet of thick glass into a fantasy landscape, an inverted and slowly shifting world laden with references to local culture. Each of the descending rings in this sculpture embodies a notion of time and place.
The upper level illustrates both human and vehicular motion. Silhouettes on this ring reflect the passage in Shakespeare's As You Like It, tracing human development: Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Young Adult, Adult, Old Age, and Final Days. It rotates once an hour.
Focusing on local flora and domestic architecture, the middle ring reflects a different realm of daily life, one that incorporates the physical infrastructure of our daily routine. It rotates once every eight hours, an average work shift.
The Dallas skyline dominates the lowest silhouette, which also includes outlines of other area icons. This is the realm of regional identity. Adjusted for scale, this ring revolves at the same speed of the earth, once every 24 hours.
The "sky beneath" offers a link between the earthly and the celestial.
Copyright © 2013 SSchechter LLC