Aesthetic Explorations: Starr Kempf’s Kinetic Wind Sculptures

In my hometown neighborhood sits a house with a peculiar front yard. Enormous metal sculptures clutter the lawn: some swaying in the breeze like a wind vanes, while some lay on their sides too gargantuan to stand up.

Image result for starr kempf's metal sculptures colorado springs

A man named Starr Kempf designed and created the steel kinetic wind sculptures, displaying them across the country and outside his Colorado Springs home. His artwork typically took on the aesthetic of birds and weather vanes and would take years to execute. The sculptures are often futuristic looking and juxtapose fluent wind induced movement with a hardened industrial steel medium.

Image result for starr kempf's metal sculptures colorado springs

 

While many of the neighborhood’s residents love the quirky art house, many opposed the distraction. Neighbors complained about the 30 foot “eye sores” disrupting the aesthetic of the neighborhood. Kempf’s artistic aesthetic contradicted the neighborhood’s conservative, ageing look. As a result, he was forced to remove several of the sculptures from his property (current picture below).

 

Image result for starr kempf's metal sculptures colorado springs

The city of Colorado Springs alsp adopted some of Kempf’s larger artworks, displaying them downtown.

Previous Post
Aesthetic Exploration: Touch of Color
Next Post
Aesthetic Explorations: Ski Photography and Filming

1 Comment. Leave new

  • Sam Van Dreser
    January 29, 2017 8:02 pm

    The aesthetics of these sculptures are fantastic!! The stainless steel look that they all have really makes you look at the whole sculpture rather than focusing on the colors of say something else. I also get this feeling looking at them that they are very simple in nature, but as you said take years to complete. Any chance you have a video of one of these? would love to see then in action with the wind!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.