HOUSTON PENETRABLE

In my pre-coffee morning daze, I opened the paper to this lovely image. It think it's the perfect image with which to start the day. After reading about this piece, I am dying to see this installation in person: Jesús Rafael Soto's Houston Penetrable at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The Houston Penetrable, a kinetic sculpture by Jesús Rafael Soto at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is a sea of plastic tubing for visitors to walk through. Credit Carrithers Studio (via The New York Times).

Commissioned in 2004, this kinetic sculpture took almost a decade to produce, along with a required retrofit to the building's structure and huge fund raising effort. Jesús Rafael Soto passed away in 2005 and the work was produced by MFAH over the 10 years with help from Soto's longtime collaborators Paolo Carrozzino and Walter Pellevoisin. There are eight other Soto pieces that accompany Houston Penetrable. I wish I could just hop on a plane to see this show! There is a smaller Soto Penetrable here in Los Angeles at LACMA, but wow, the scale of this one in Houston must surely transport you. It is on view and fully touchable until September 1, 2014 after which it will go into storage. Watch an amazing video of the piece and the making of it here.
Seriously. Watch it.

Jesús Rafael Soto, Houston Penetrable, 2004–14, lacquered aluminum structure, PVC tubes, and water-based silkscreen ink, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund. © Estate of Jesús Rafael Soto. Photograph © The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Thomas R. DuBrock, photographer.

As an exhibition designer and someone who loves the process of installing work for public viewing, I can appreciate the amount of planning and work that goes into hanging and storing this piece. It weighs eight tons and is comprised of 2,400 PVC tubes. So many hands, so many brains, so many hours!
So beautiful.