Patrick O'Shea

Kinetic sculpture

Hydro-Electro-Poetics

Practice-based research into small kinetic machines driven by water, light and computer cooling systems.

Year
2017–19
Medium
Kinetic models combining analog and digital components
Shown
  • Hydrorefractor at ATS@50, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2020
  • SAIC MFA Open Studios, 2018 — reviewed in F Newsmagazine
Hydrorefractor, 2019.
Hydrorefractor, 2019.

A body of practice-based research developing kinetic models that combine analog and digital components.

Hydrorefractor, 2019

A mechanism propelled by computer cooling, producing diffracting light patterns and the kinetic movement of water.

Hydrorefractor.

Earlier studies

River Orchestra Machine #1.

River mobile (2017) is propelled by the river itself and amplifies the friction of its movement as sound. A 2018 prototype developed the mechanisms later used in Hydrorefractor.

Marine Magnetism, 2018 — a leaf floating on water, after the relationship between tides, the magnetic field and rising heat.

"I cannot think about the lovely little art-machines of Patrick O'Shea without thinking of their opposite forms: the pumping arm of an oil drilling rig at work, for example, or any other machine that contains or devours any given natural resource. O'Shea's machines meet the natural on the meekest and most lyrical of terms."

— Leah Gallant, F Newsmagazine, 2018