Jason Hackenwerth's DarkMatter at Creative Pinellas

Stephenie gets up close and personal with the sculpture

It's impossible to look at a balloon sculpture without flashing back to childhood birthday parties when a clown or magician miraculously made a dog from balloons right in front of your eyes. Jason Hackenwerth's balloon sculptures bear only the vaguest resemblance to those creations. True, Hackenwerth is intentionally invoking those happy childhood memories with his work. But there's a lot more going on. 

While Hackenwerth works in a variety of mediums, he's internationally known for his organic balloon art. He's been at it for a long time. In fact, Hackenwerth got his start working beside his mother making those poodles and swords out of balloons for kids for tips. He even had a clown suit. He continued to work in this old fashioned form of performance art throughout his time at SCAD. It must have been humbling for the art school student, but he had eat. 

Judy seeks cloud cover in the gallery

Fast forward to 2004 when his trademark creations began mysteriously appearing in NY subway stations. Hackenwerth was a subway rider at the time and found it utterly depressing. "I always thought art should surprise people, stop them in their tracks," Hackenwerth has said. Mission accomplished. I so wish I'd come upon one of his works when I was a subway rider. Today his work has appeared in venues as far flung as the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Venice Biennale and art festivals in Dubai and Hong Kong. 

Hackenwerth's sculptures call to mind both the natural world and the female form. (How could you not think of women with all those nipple-like protusions???) Once again, these evocations are part of Hackenwerth's master plan. "The female form is the gateway to existence," he said in an interview. "We all got here through women." 

His references to nature include all kinds of life forms. From some perspectives his creations make you think of beautiful botanicals. From others they look like bugs or other creepy crawlers with a bit of "Little Shop of Horrors" thrown in. But no matter how you look at them, they're a celebration of life. 

And yet as we engaged with Heckenwerth's sculptures, we noticed some of the latex balloons had lost their air, their life. Which raises the question -- how long do these works last and why create artwork with a limited lifespan? This aspect of the work is an important part of Hackenwerth's message. "It's a metaphor for existence," the artist has said. "Everything is temporary." 

The impermanence of the medium made me think of chalk art, which fades away over time (or with some help from a hard rain). But unlike the natural disappearance of chalk art, Hackenwerth helps his works along in the process. At the end of each exhibit, the remaining balloons are popped and put in the bin. Hackenwerth likens it to the way monks destroy the sand mandalas they have so fastidiously created. The temporality of the medium is part of what makes it special. Appreciate each moment and all that. 

Image from video of Creative Pinellas project 

As to the mechanics of making these sculptures, suffice it to say there's a lot of math involved. The exhibit included drawings for some of the works Hackenwerth has created alongside images of the final product. My favorite part was the notations of the number and color of balloons required. One work called for 6500 Ruby Red, 4500 Citron Orange, 3000 Citron Yellow and 2000 Diamond Clear balloons. That's a lot of latex!  

I was interested to learn that the two floating creations at Creative Pinellas began as one large sculpture that Hackenwerth ripped in two. He likens it to what's happened in our country, with the tear between the two parts representing emotional scar tissue. His hope was that the two sides would continue to grow after their separation. Perhaps they might even meet in the middle at some point. Pessimist that I am these days, I think it's more likely the works will continue to live separate existences until they are destroyed. 

  

"DarkMatter" is on display at Creative Pinellas through October 16. It's definitely worth a visit. For an article on how Hackenwerth's balloon art morphed from those cliche dogs to the amazing creations he's making today, click here. For a video in which Hackenwerth talks about his exhibit at Creative Pinellas, click here. And for a bunch of images of Hackenwerth's work, including some of his wearable art, click here. Happy exploring!