3 Questions For … Rik Allen

Rik Allen at work in the studio.

GLASS: What are you working on?
Rik Allen: I’ve just launched a new fleet of rockets, many of them with entirely new forms. I’ve always seen my work as more kinetic than static, and this newest series has a heightened sense of potential energy, as if the objects are about to crawl or lunge forward. I’ve also been continuing to play with simple narratives with a solitary ladder, stair, or even escalator, often coupled with a lone chair. It puts the viewer in the rocket very easily.

Several of these new works are assembled with a fair amount of stainless steel construction. With the support of my good friend and assistant Jeremy Bosworth, I’ve been having a lot of fun with my new TIG (tungsten intert gas) welder.  It reminds me a bit of torch-working glass in a micro-fussy sort of way. The pace of metal working is very slow but offers infinite possibilities, as well as time to reflect on the project which makes it quite different that working only with hot glass. Actually, the role of glass in these pieces is simply to provide a shell or membrane to the body, and the transparent skin reveals an apparatus or a narrative element on the interior. And even the glass itself often has a silver metallic  surface, sometimes even completely silvered over except for a few glass lenses or ports to reveal the interior. This work is all in an exhibit entitled “Transience” because I see rockets as moving into different existences, but also because the bodies of the rockets themselves are decaying over time until abandoned. But the objects are not meant to be literal rockets. Turing Exterra, for example, is something almost organic, possibly microbial, and even could be robotic. The interior holds an apparatus that is meant to convey communication and energy. The bubbly, scavo surface obscures the interior, and adds to the organic quality. It’s long legs are made to appear articulated, and full of potential for movement.

Rik Allen, Turing Exterra, 2009. Blown glass, steel, wire mesh. H 34, W 16, D 16 in.

GLASS: What artwork have you seen recently that inspired you?
Rik: A lot of  the inspiration for my work comes out of not so much artwork as old technology. I’m a frequent visitor to the American Museum of Radio and Electricity, in Bellingham, Washington, where they have an amazing collection of ancient scientific devices and experimental apparatuses, as well as a collection of 20,000 radio tubes. There is something more than nostalgia that draws me to this stuff. The objects are, in their own way, beautiful works of art with this incredible evidence of age and wear. I have also been influenced by the illustrations of science fiction artists Lou Feck, Stanley Meltzoff, and Paul Lehr, just to mention a few. This summer, while teaching at Pilchuck with my wife, Shelley, I found every element of that experience, including the faculty and students, very inspiring . There are too many people to list here, but one of the great pleasures I have is the community of artists in our little glass world, and how many incredible people we have in it.

GLASS: Where is it possible to see your work on exhibit?
Rik: I’m currently having an exhibit at Traver Gallery, Tacoma, entitled “Transience” that runs through October 4th, 2009. There you can see all 17 pieces in my latest body of work. You can see the different ways I’m working with pieces that are as purely “rocket” as rocket gets, to more organic forms, some robotic and poised for action. I’m also excited to be showing with Blue Rain Gallery of Santa Fe at SOFA Chicago this November.