Rik Allen
The futuristic antiquity of this series was inspired by my life-long fascination with the design of technology-especially the "new" technology of foregone years. I've tried to convey an element of cinematic grace and movement in these ships. A wonderment of the potential marriage of design and science first infected me as boy reading science fiction stories, watching NASA launches on television, seeing futuristic films, and spending long hours in the creative playroom of my own imagination. I've been drawing rockets for as long as I can remember, and their power of their image has carried me to the work you see today.
This work, made of glass and metal, shows two dimensions within the form of these spacecraft. Rockets are literally transportive, but the transparency of these vessels exposes a system of energy- like the plasma of a red giant or the molecular thermodynamics of an electrochemical cell. This duality may symbolize the journey of exploration of the outer extreme, while the answers are within it's own core. They take us on separate journeys within our own imaginations. Inspired by a life-long fascination with science fiction and a romantic notion of space travel, my spacecraft combine blown glass and fabricated metal components to create a nostalgic sense of adventure.