... I would like to present to you...
… five gold wings…
… four paper pests…
… three growing bathers…
... two storytellers...
... and a lazy day in space.
Poseidon gifted King Minos of Crete a great white bull. The bull was a sign that Mino’s ascension to the thrown was justified, but he didn’t sacrifices the animal, as he was told to do by the God, instead he switched it and sacrificed another. As revenge for this slight, Poseidon, aided by Aphrodite, enchanted the King’s wife, Pasiphaë, to become full of lust and desire for the bull, and Daedalus built for her a hollow wooden cow, covered in a hide in which the Queen could fulfil her most taboo desire. This resulted in the Minotaur.
Daedalus, was a skilled architect and craftsman, and for this, the King had him build the labyrinth to conceal the Minotaur. That is until Theseus is challenged to kill it. Theseus navigates the labyrinth, tethered to a string of Ariadne’s thread, and makes his way through the winding passageways until he completes his mission and kill the Minotaur, before fleeing Crete with Ariadne, Minos’ daughter.
To hide the truth about the Minotaurs parentage, along with the secrets of the labyrinth, Minos imprisoned Daedalus, the only person who knew the truth and to punish him for aiding his wife in her affair with the bull, but it was not alone. Into the winding halls of the structure he build, his son Icarus was also place, and alongside the monster it concealed. But there was a plan and we all know where it’s heading. Unable to escape by sea, Daedalus craft for the pair wings made of bird feathers, string and wax, explicitly telling Icarus not to fly to high, or the wax would melt in the heat of the sun, and not to fly too low, through fear that the spray and foam from the seas that surround the island would soak the feathers and weigh them down.
Freed from the Labyrinth by Pasiphaë, Daedalus and Icarus, secure their wings and jump from the cliffs of Crete, flying away from the land over the sea. They fly by the island of Samos, then Delos and Lebynthos and become more comfortable and more confident, and with that Icarus begins to test his limits. Dipping towards the water, then high towards the sun, playing like a child, despite his fathers warnings Icarus continues to grow in confidence, going higher and higher, until the inevitable happens, the wax melts, feathers tumbling away and before he knows it, he’s falling to the ground, his father, who as the boy played flew ahead, unable to rescue him, only the feathers floating on the water giving any sign of where his child lies. Taking his body to the nearest island, Daedalus buries his child and calls the island Icaria, which it remains known as today.
But where am I going with this on the 5th Day… most years this is the hardest post for me. I am a trained jeweller. I can and have made jewellery. But not for a long time, because my creativity and imagination seem to have deserted me. So, I don’t look at a lot of jewellery anymore, I don’t keep up with the trends, or follow as many creators as I once did, because it makes me sad, but it also mean my pool from which to draw five pieces of jewellery, is much smaller, especially pieces I’m really enthusiastic about. And I’ve changed it up a little over the years, and this year I thought about doing the last five pieces of jewellery I’d saved on Instagram, or five useful jewellery tips I’ve discovered this year via Instagram…
… then as I was searching through my saves, I saw one of Casey Curran’s kinetic sculptures, and I instantly thought of the Icarus myth, and even though it’s not jewellery, I got excited.
Casey Curran is a Washington based artist who specialises in kinetic sculptures. Made out of brass wire; acrylic; drafting film; tar and feathers, among other media, and creates these fascinating and intricate mechanical installations, which flutter and pulse in a beautifully compelling manner. It’s this motion that made me think of Icarus and his mechanical wings.
Tusk (2018)
(Motorised Kinetic Wall Art || Laser cut acrylic, hand sculpted brass and Blue English Bantom chicken feathers)
Using a mixture of hand-cranked mechanisms and motorised to create motion within his pieces, Curran also looks to nature for his inspiration, finding patterns, symmetry and even the motions he creates through using a simple construction below more ornate intricate details mimics those seen in nature. Whether it’s a gently flapping wing or flower which repeatedly blooms and die, subtle motions create complex and pulsing pieces of art.
Seed (2019)
(Kinetic Installation commission by Facebook for their Richmond, WA Campus || Laser Cut Aluminium, Duralar and Brass Wire)
Seed, is prime example, with polyester drafting film, which is essentially thicker, higher quality tracing paper, laser cut into delicate petals which sequentially bloom over the surface of the wall sculpture, before closing again. It literally bursts into life and then decays, a repeating life cycle in paper, plastic and brass.
Parable of Gravity (2021)
(Kinetic Landscape Exhibition || Wood, Aluminium, laser-cut polyester drawing paper and brass wire)
So much of Curran’s work relates to life cycles, growth, decay and re-growth, nature knowing when and how it needs to rebalance itself. The exhibition, Parable of Gravity, features an exhibition space filled with eight foot tall wooden structures which are crumbling into disrepair, while also being overtaken by nature, a story you can see in any vacant piece of land, or abandoned space around the world. The mechanisms on such a large scale create a squeaking, fluttering, chirping sound, much akin to the noise of birds chirping; frogs croaking; water trickling, and trees and plants creaking together in the rainforest. It creates its own soundscape, adding to this dystopian feel of the space.
The structures crumbling towards the ground come to their lowest point together, and at it’s centre, a geometric aluminium model of 951 Gaspra, the first asteroid that was ever captured in detail by the space probe Galileo, in 1991. It’s placed as though this was its landing point, colliding to earth within a city, and the reason for the deviation from which new life has sprung, creating this new landscape.
The metal asteroids is titled Anchor of Janus, after the Roman God of passageways, transitions, beginnings and endings.
Stellapluma (2022)
(Kinetic Costume || Laser cut acrylic, brass wire, polyester drawing paper, leather and brass split pins)
Stellapluma, is one of Curran’s newer creations, and was the first of his sculptures I discovered. It was also the piece that I landed on while searching for something to write about for Day 5, and the thing that actually stimulated enough excitement in me that I wanted to share it and also reminded me of Icarus. It’s also kind of lucky since it’s one of his pieces of wearable art, though it was tempting to use the mid-pandemic face mask.
Strapped onto the wearers chest, the wing like mechanism flaps and waves, almost as though it’s breathing with them and the central mechanic, where the whole motion of the motor is visible, is the heart, open and vulnerable to the elements.
Many artist hide their process, and while he may not be posting instructions as to how he makes his sculptures, Curran posts a lot of videos of his work in process, and he hints at some of the simplicity within, such as a series of laser cut acrylic hinges and a string to create this elegant wave. I like this a lot, because showing your audience some of your process, let’s them into your creative world, whereas hiding everything just shuts them out and keeps them at arms length.
It’s really beautiful to see these elements come together into this almost living, breathing piece of kinetic art.
Daphne (2022)
(Motorised Kinetic Installation for Iris van Herpen’s Meta Morphism || brass, polyester drawing paper, laser cut acrylic, tar, gold leaf )
Daphne, was an installation Curran created as the centrepiece of fashion designer Iris Van Herpen’s 2022 Autum/Winter collection, Meta Morphism, and a piece which is directly inspired by Greek mythology. Not Icarus in this case, but the story of Daphne and Apollo, and her transformation into a laurel, to protect herself from the pursuit of his unwanted love.
This is one of my favour Greek myths, and combine that with Curran’s beautiful kinetic sculpture, brass laurel leaves falling around it and then surrounded by the equally kinetic work of Van Herpen, as the models circle it, I’m honestly floored. Iris van Herpen, is one of my favourite designers, her work using 3D printing on fabric among other techniques to create these delicate, animated gowns is not only incredibly innovative, but unique. When you see someone wearing one of her gowns at the MET Ball or another red carpet event, you know exactly whose work it is and when I saw these two had worked together, and topped it off with the use of mythology, I was so incredibly happy. It just seemed like a perfect match.
And as for the sculpture, you can see the emotion and distress in the pose. Created around a wire skeleton, covered in tar and gold leaf, it depicts Daphne, on which these kinetic petals and leaves have begun to grow. It’s beautiful, and tormented, and tells the story of Daphnes’ metamorphosis from nymph to evergreen tree so plainly. It was her last ditched attempt to protect herself from Apollo’s advances. Half tree, half nymph, Daphne’s transformation is why Apollo is often depicted with laurel crown, because while she would not be his wife, he would have her as his tree.
“Although you cannot be my wife, you shall at least be my tree;
I shall always wear you on my hair, on my quiver, O Laurel.”
(Metamorphosis, Ovid)
If you want to hear more about Daedalus, Icarus and a smattering of dislike for the “hero” Theseus, then can I recommend Let’s Talk About Myth’s, Baby!, Episode LXXXI: Daedalus’ Inventions, Icarus and the Melting Point of Wax, or if you’d like a little more about Daphne and Apollo, there’s also the episode, Mini Myth: Daphne, the Nymph Who Said “Hell No, Apollo!”:
When I said that this podcast was a big part of my year, I’m not kidding, and connecting mythology to a random image I flashed past in my Instagram feed made me look harder at the work at a designer and artist whose work I now truly love and admire. I’m excited to see what Casey Curran makes next and if he does more collaborations with Iris van Herpen…
… these two really are a perfect combination to me.
Anyway, enjoy, hope you’re keeping warm during the cold snap. Part six waiting in the wings…
Link || Blooming Kinetic Sculptures Built with Wire by Casey Curran by Christopher Jobson via This is Colossal
Link || New Kinetic Floral Sculptures by Casey Curran […] by Kate Sierzputowski via This is Colossal
Link || Kinetic Flowers Grown from a Deteriorated Landscape […] by Grace Ebert via This is Colossal
Link || Casey Curran by Matthew Kangas via Sculpture Magazine
Link || The Kinetic Sculptures of Casey Curran by Andy Smith via Hi Fructose
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Listening: Free Bird - Lynryd Skynyrd
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