David Henderson
History of Aviation, Part II, 2011
Smack Mellon, NY
My Role: Curator / Production Director
Selected Press:
Inspired by the Late Gothic style of the Bath Abbey’s fan vaulted ceiling, David Henderson recreates the Perpendicular architecture and presents the iconic form flipped on its side in his installation A History of Aviation -Part 2. Easily mixing high-tech and low-tech, Henderson starts off by planning the project with a 3D modeling program and then moves into the construction phase armed with a band saw outfitted with a turntable. Adopting construction methods used for building ultra-lightweight aircrafts, the almost-gravity-defying installation is made with Styrofoam, fiberglass, carbon fiber and an aircraft-grade fabric skin. In contradistinction to the gallery’s main architectural feature - a massive concrete coal hopper - the circular geometry of the all-white installation dramatically carves out soaring arcs in the industrial gallery space.
David Henderson, originally from Atlanta, lives and works in Brooklyn. He has a BA from Bard College, and an MFA from Columbia University. He has exhibited his work in various galleries including Knoedler & Co., Michael Steinberg, Exit Art, Sideshow Gallery, English Kills Gallery, Pratt Institute, Schroeder Romero, and the Brooklyn Museum. Henderson’s work has been written about in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Art News, and Sculpture Magazine among others. He has a permanent installation at Long Island University, Sander Gallery, NY. Henderson has been involved for the past several years in exploration of geometric forms and the spaces they inhabit, and has a keen interest in developing new methods of fabrication and innovative use of materials. This has been coupled with an investigation of ultra-light structures, and the possibilities opened up by the minimization of mass in sculpture.
More info about the exhibition on Smack Mellon website.
Image courtesy of the artist and Smack Mellon. Photo by Etienne Frossard.