Art in Public Places: Planning the Creation Installation

Reaching across thirty feet of Agalma Virtu Gallery space, the “zero” explosive composition of my painted mural Vortex, has inspired the Steinman Art Trust to promote the work as the Creation installation for the lobby of a performing arts center in Asia.



Plans for the theater resemble the Academy located at 99 Wong Chuk Hang Road in Hong Kong.



For this project, I am in the process of exploring the transposition of my elongated painting into the medium of a large-scale woven tapestry. Such a transformation of my mural would utilize expert weavers such as Flanders Tapestries. The Flanders group, located in Belgium, executed the tapestries that line the sanctuary of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles. They employ specialized computerized looms to precisely render original paintings. Most notably, they use Dornier Rapier looms, the largest in the world, that are able to handle large formats, employing 20,000 hooks. Indeed, most contemporary large-scale tapestries have been woven through technical computer programmed loom applications.



Even with the power of the calibrated loom, a certain amount of painstaking handwork would still remain in such a project. In the case of the Creation mural, heavy linen linings would need to be sewn into place by hand in order to reinforce and complete the weaving.



Fixtures and other hanging devices would lend weight and stability to the tapestry that would greet visitors in the immense glass paneled foyer of the theater.

In the weaving of this work, I would want to precisely capture the pure teal color and sense of light-stuck aquamarine that wicks out of the heart of Creation’s fiery ring. I imagine that the deepest hues of burning cadmium orange, umber and black might very well lend themselves to textural inclusions that would add depth and dimension to the woof and warp of the weave. Choosing the right custom dyed threads is key.



The mural’s ivory ground would translate well in a pure wool, linen and silk blend. Above all, I would want the light pearl color of the background to intensify the energetic and kinetic effect of my interpretation of the BIG BANG. My goal is to impart a sense of floatation, emphasizing the disembodied “O” of my color composition. The Director of the Steinman Art Trust recently wrote, “The Zero Creation Tapestry will shape the conceptual entrance to a creative stage that awaits in the interior of the performing arts center.” All that said, I look forward to leaping from handmade paint to computer-generated cloth!♦