Lyndi Sales Blue and Gray Magnolia and Paenia Print

Zachry Engineering Education Complex

• Born: 1973, Johannesburg, South Africa
• Place of residence: Cape Town, South Africa
• Education, concentration: BFA (1995) and MFA (2000), University of Cape Town
• Collections/notable accolades: Collected by National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C; New York Public Library; RED Bull Salzburg; FRAC de la Haute Normandie (Regional Contemporary Art Foundation for Upper Normandie) Société Générale Art Foundation, France; University of Northern Illinois, Dekalb, USA; McGill University, Montreal, Canada; Arthur and Mata Jaffe Collection, Florida Atlantic University, USA; ABSA, Ernst and Young, Hollard, Santam, Sasol, South African Breweries, Telkom, Nando and UCT
• Sales' website

About This Piece

My work is inspired by and draws on research data captured during my visit to Texas A&M as well as data shared with me from the Sonic Boom research team. This shared information was in the form of digitally created visualization images of airflow experiments, morphing processes and CFD renderings as well as sound recording taken on site. My concept involved using this information to inspire two relief wall installations that would mimic the movement of the morphing process as well as the airflow and acoustics of a plane going through the sound barrier.

The three elements of significance to be portrayed in my final design were determined while I was on a site visit to Texas A&M. These three elements of significance were:

1. The aircraft design. The aim was to somehow use the plane blueprint in the artwork. As my work is located in the genre of abstraction I harnessed elements of the plane design, which I further enhance, distorted and modified it to create a rhythmic composition that would reveal the movement of a plane as it broke through the sound barrier.
2. The second aspect of relevance was to draw from the aerodynamics and streamline tests that the engineering team has been conducting. The arrow clusters and flows that are included in my design speak to the streams of airflow that are so relevant to this project.
3. The Sonic boom acoustics was the third and final element to be included in my artwork. Here as mentioned before I made recordings of preexisting sonic acoustics as well as recorded conversation and explanations of the team members while on visit to the university and testing station.

The final artwork gives the illusion of a fast air vehicle. The right wall is more evocative of fragmentation of the sonic boom. It reveals subsonic morphing of a wing, projecting fragmentation, and the sonic boom, to create a fragmentation in the senses. The fragmentation perhaps implying that the team has been able to reduce and break the sonic boom into smaller pieces.

"The seemingly random data almost acts as code for me to work through and then in my own way I breathe a personal element into the works as I create them."— Lyndi Sales

The process involved collecting data from my visit at Texas A&M. I was also able to capture sound recordings of the sonic boom sound of an aircraft breaking the sound barrier that was translated into visual image and used in my designs. I also recorded the various team members explaining their research processes. These recording were also made into visualization sound waves and rendered into image. I made several drawing studies that were inspired by the research I collected. I then used those drawings to create a digital rendering. All the elements and layers were separated and cut into various materials. Some materials were hand painted after cutting. The units were installed in Johannesburg and numbered before being shipped to Texas A&M for final installation.

My final artwork will have various reflective elements including mirror surfaces. This should encourage viewer participation. The work should be evocative, stimulate the senses and create wonder. We not only see the world but also interpret it through our own filters. And the same goes for interpretation of the work. I don't want my work to be prescriptive in any way. The work should be intriguing from close up as well as from a far. It should work compositionally as it meanders across the wall but also be intriguing at close inspection.

"I have always been drawn to science, engineering and technology for inspiration for my works."— Lyndi Sales

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Source: https://zachry.tamu.edu/art/lyndi-sales/