Reflect, 2018
painted steel, mirror finish stainless steel
Stuart Allen
Reflect
Reflect is integrated into the playground area at Yanaguana Garden, creating a canopy over the existing “boomerang” play structure. The sculpture is a series of stainless steel ribbon forms suspended from a robust, bent steel tubing frame. Its organic shape harmonizes with the adjacent promenade’s shade structure design.
The stainless-steel ribbons mirror finish reflect and refract the surrounding landscape, buildings and, most importantly, the children and adults utilizing the playground. The arrangement of the sculpture creates a dappled shadow effect over the playground that changes with the movement of the sun.
Through his photography, sculpture and installation, Stuart Allen explores fundamental elements of perception such as light, time, gravity and space. His work has been included in over a hundred exhibitions thought the US and internationally. He is represented in many significant public and private collections including four U.S. Embassies, UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, the Tokyo Kite Museum, and multiple American museums. Notable public art projects include commissions for the United States Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, the City of Davis, California Police Headquarters Building, and two installations along the San Antonio Riverwalk.
Allen studied architecture at Kansas University and graduated from the photography and video department of the Kansas City Art Institute in 1993. He lives and works in San Antonio with his wife Kelly Lyons, daughter Aidan, son Vincent, and their dog Juniper. He is a runner, a sailor, and a collector of unusual watches. He loves sandwiches. Allen builds kites, and furniture, and once – with his father and brother – a medieval catapult to launch pumpkins.
Artist Website: www.stuartallen.info
