Ipomoea
Phil PRICE
New Zealand born 1965
Ipomea 2019
Carbon fibre, epoxy, urethane, stainless steel
Acclaimed as one of the most innovative kinetic artists of his generation, Phil Price is known for soaring, botanically-inspired sculptures that rely solely on wind currents for their gyratory motion. Price majored in sculpture at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts in Christchurch, New Zealand and currently maintains studios in the port town of Lyttleton near Christchurch and Melbourne, Australia.
Typically, his practice entails as keen an interest in the engineering aspects of a work as it does with formal design. This blend of technical experiment with creative process underlies the success of deceptively simple works such as lpomoea that swivel and twist – subject to wind direction- through multiple axes in a captivating sequence of configurations.
Price begins each project with drawings that precede computer generated digital renderings and animations. The latter inform the final stage of fabrication of the sculpture and its concealed mechanisms.
The title lpomoea is a botanical name for ‘morning glory’ vines with vivid green, heart-shaped leaves. Here, both the ‘leaf’ or ‘tongue’ element and a sinuous vine-like ‘stem’ move independently with a fluid, even balletic grace. Price has completed a number of major international public and private projects and his sculpture is held in collections in Austria, USA, Switzerland, Vietnam, Argentina, Holland, UK, and Australia