"These high-flying forms have been the source of an ongoing exploration for Streicher inspiring a number of installations. Their lack of a clear-cut definition lends itself to the artist’s signature work with inflatables. However, unlike mother nature’s clouds, the clouds created for Alto Cumulus have an architectural outer structure. This aesthetic twist is informed by Streicher’s fascination with the depiction of clouds throughout the history of art — featured prominently in Renaissance and Baroque religious painting. The installation in the Allen Lambert Galleria exposes Streicher’s surrealist impulse – in particular the influence of the work of Henri Magritte. As imprecise a form as clouds may be, ironically Streicher uses a sewing machine to assert some control over these indeterminate shapes. Constructed from Tyvek – which is technically a paper – Streicher was initially drawn to the material because of its paper quality and feeling of weightlessness. The lightness of the material responds readily to the electric fans Streicher uses to inflate his sculptures. The transient moody nature of the cloud is illuminated in Alto Cumulus as the Allen Lambert Galleria’s ever changing light conceals and reveals."
We have seen more of Max's pneumatic work around Toronto including the Sextet and Floating Forest installations.
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