Gnarled tree limbs arc above each entrance of downtown’s Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery. Lashed together with twine, the limbs create a web-like mass that spreads throughout the Weston’s lobby, soaring above in great domes, coiling around pillars, growing up and out of the stairwell. An earthy, wooden smell permeates the glass, steel and brick interior.
This dramatic sensory experience is Thin Air Studio’s tour de force, its largest installation to date. Christopher Daniel and Kirk Mayhew comprise Thin Air Studio (a third member, Rich Fruth, went his separate way last year), which specializes in site-specific installation built from natural materials. They’ve constructed mostly outdoor large-scale sculpture — locally at the Cincinnati Flower Show, the Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center and Mac’s Farm Sculpture Center, and internationally at the BUGA (Germany’s national garden show) in Munich.
The studio’s work is always fascinating and interactive — viewers can walk through and really experience it. The current Weston installation, which required 16 days and 17 assistants to complete, surpasses its past work in sheer magnitude.
The installation can be seen at the gallery in the Aronoff Center for the Arts through August 30. Get details and read the review here.
