“In the late ‘70s, Hunt began making the ‘Airship’. Miraculously, they jut out of the wall, above our heads, out of reach. We strain to understand their weightless horizontality, their shimmering gossamer instability. Pushing materials to their limits, he changes the gallery into a galaxy where new laws of thermodynamics and gravity and motion are indescribably put into effect. In the ‘Airship’, as in much of his subsequent work, Hunt turns the act of looking into bewildering uncommon, almost supernatural experience”
- Jerry Saltz
Bryan Hunt's most iconic bodies of works are the Airships which he developed thanks to his interest in architecture and space. Hunt took inspiration for his forms from early twentieth century airships, that he revisited them frequently since the Seventies. These works were a challenge to the cult-like followers of Minimalism and Earth Art and a sophisticated and idiosyncratic response to classical and modern sculpture.
The Airships are dirigible-shaped structures and are made by balsa and spruce wood covered with silk and metal leaf. They are designed to be mounted directly on the wall over the viewer's head and out of reach, giving the impression of being suspended in space. The position and the horizontal placement of the airship make the structures appear weightless and gravity defying.
Talking about the Airships, Hunt stated, “By addressing proportions, balance, and light, the airships transform a room and disregard its boundaries. Ultimately, they have as much to do with looking down on ourselves and our planet as us looking up at a weightless vessel.”
In the recent years, Hunt has increasingly focused on the Pods series, which consists of installation of small and colorful dirigible-shaped structures, similar to the early airships. The Pods embody a sense of lightness and fluidity and continue to explore the lifelong exploration relation between science, architecture and philosophy.
As Jerry Saltz noted that: “in the late ‘70s, Hunt began making the ‘Airship’. Miraculously, they jut out of the wall, above our heads, out of reach. We strain to understand their weightless horizontality, their shimmering gossamer instability. Pushing materials to their limits, he changes the gallery into a galaxy where new laws of thermodynamics and gravity and motion are indescribably put into effect. In the ‘Airship’, as in much of his subsequent work, Hunt turns the act of looking into bewildering uncommon, almost supernatural experience”.
