Jesse English

Kinetic Artist

Portfolio Overview

Preceding Eridanus (50 sec.)

For his Graduate Exposition, Jesse lectured on the history of astronomy; and he deconstructed the origins of contemporary mythology.  During this lecture, three videos on these topics were shown.  This first short-film was a sculptural illustration of the kayos that occurred in the Greek myth of Phaethon and Apollo’s chariot.     

Pulse (4 min.) 

The next film presented a dissolving / rematerializing confection that memorializes the theory of an expanding and contracting universe.  The video and sculpture were developed with a teleological vantage point.

Breath (10 min.) 

Without further explanation, the final movie in this series of three is found above .

Out of the Break (10Min.)

Out of the Break reveals a cycle of life with curious, sculptural, self-guided creatures.  As with many of my films/sculptures, the chronicle ends with the understanding that what has been witnessed is a single segment of a repetitive system.  These are allegories of our own transient place in a greater narrative journey.

Skipping Stones (4 min.)

Time-based cairn creation, 2005.  Inspired by ideas of artists: Richard Long, Jessup Penone, Chris Drury and others.  The film is comprised intuitive works; utilizing the environment as a medium.

Anemophily (7.30 Min.)

This video observes White Rock Lake in Dallas, TX, as a place where nature thrives alongside man and considers the simplest of life within the area as a magical system to be pondered.    Through this tale, the simple method of pollination is revealed as the miraculous system, which it actually is.     

Cadence (6 min.)

This video considers land as a media of art and sculpture as a narrative set of events.  This film was created with an idea in mind;  things that seem unrelated are in fact connected.  Something out of the ordinary may in fact be part of a continuing set of undetected yet reoccurring events.

Turnstile (3 Min.)

A machine / relic, kinetic installation, discussing relationships between ourselves, creatures and our mutual creator, 2005.  Turnstile is a closed system of machinery driven by a viewer/participant.  Image twelve shows the interface form.  That sculpture is the handle whereby a cord transfers power to the turnstile-form in image ten.  The turnstile (12’x4’x4’) in this image has centrifugally-activated appendages.  As the turnstile spins the arms bloom open or bow down.

Weight (1 min.)