WINDSPEED BY QIN YUFEN

Wind is the perceptible natural movement of the air, especially a current blowing from a particular direction. Speed is the rapidity of movement or action. Together the two words give us an idea of what these sculptural forms are about.

Maple seeds are superb auto-rotating helicopters. They begin rotating almost from the moment they are released from the tree. Even seeds that are poorly shaped or have badly damaged blades rotate with “ease”. Maple seeds are a good metaphor for what it means to escape imposed limitations. The grace of falling maple leaves is one that has impressed people through the ages. As they fall and spin there is a captivation that comes over the viewer, a desire that they always remain in flight. The seeds seem isolated in space, they fall, and yet there remain in place. They point us towards the fascination we have with flight, and by association freedom from everything we know.

All of which is captured in this piece of sculpture. It is our fascination with things we cannot control, that makes us look up and delight in the shifting colours and planes of captured flight.