Kuroshio

8’x 20’x 12′
Aluminum, rivets, paint, cable, hardware
2004

* Available *
This suspended sculpture was commissioned for a residence in Asheville, but, after the owners moved, I bought it back.

The title Kuroshio comes from the Kuroshio Current, which flows in the Pacific Ocean.  I did not set out to design a mobile with this theme in mind, but when it was complete, I looked at the sparkling, watery, wave-like forms and I began to imagine those as waves.  The colored spheres seemed to be floating in those waves.  I thought of the traditional glass fishing floats that sometimes break away from Japanese fishermen’s nets and drift across the ocean to be found by beachcombers on the west coast of the U.S.  In searching for the name of those floats, I learned that the Kuroshio Current is what carries them across the Pacific, and that seemed to be the right title for the mobile.

I designed Kuroshio to be suspended within the space between two large wooden trusses.  It is consists of two independently hung sections.  By dividing the mobile into two sections, I was able to elongate the overall design to make optimal use of the space between the trusses.  I worked within a CAD program to experiment with scale, placement, and proportions.  The precision of the program helped me to include within the design numerous points at which adjacent, moving pieces almost touch as they pass.