Alan Rath’s kinetic sculptures poetically integrate the human and the technological.  Many incorporate computer-animated still images of human features, such as eyes, mouths and hands, displayed on LCD screens.  These screens are mounted on sculptural armatures and the images are programmed to change in subtle progressive permutations.  The screen images often appear to be involved in some form of communication.

For example, in the sculpture Bostock, 2012, five LCD screens each display an image of a single hand.  The hands engage in sign language that translates the lyrics of Jethro Tull’s 1972 album, Thick as a Brick.  The title refers to Gerald Bostock, the fictional eight-year old boy Ian Anderson credited with writing an epic poem upon which the album was allegedly based.  The lyrics were actually written by Anderson.  As a Solway Gallery director, Michael Solway.  At this young age, Rath was already building his own speakers and other electronics.  The exhibition at Carl Solway Gallery will include eight LCD screen sculptures created during the last ten years.

The exhibition will also include several of Rath’s recent explorations in robotics.  Originally trained at MIT as an electrical engineer, he is one of the few visual artists who designs, builds and programs all aspects of his work. 

Alan Rath’s contributions to the field of contemporary sculpture and new media have received significant acknowledgement worldwide. His work is included in such major collections as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Hara Museum (Tokyo). Born in Cincinnati in 1959, he lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.