Kyle Clairmont Jacques

Helena Anrather is thrilled to present Kyle Clairmont Jacques’s first solo exhibition, Thermal Cruising. The show is born from Jacques’s fascination with kites’ abilities to reveal and reify the unseen atmospheric forces through the dynamics of their flight. Jacques has activated the tall, narrow airspace of 24 Elizabeth Street with three mechanized kite sculptures. These delicate works, featuring custom-built kites made from ultralight materials by Singaporen inventor Patrick Tan, circumscribe lazy circles overhead, their paths largely pre-determined by their in-built geometry yet continuously varying in response to the thousand-fold momentary currents ribboning the air.

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The title of the show refers to the forward glide through firmament, made possible in the traditional sense by radiation emitted from the sun heating the terrestrial plane below, propelling air upward, thereby lifting anything in its path. Down below, and at shoulder level towards the rear of the space, bulbs in warm tones glow and reconstruct solar radiation.

Also hovering in the gallery space is a custom perfume devised by Jacques, continually sprayed on the kites throughout the day so that they trail scented wakes along their stochastic circumnavigations. The scent is a mnemonic device, designed to reproduce the era of pubescent, dreamy crushes and the naive simplicity of first love and yearnings. By placing this scent into the space, Jacques is synchronously extolling these youthful souvenirs while signaling their spirit lives in the present. The scent was crafted exclusively by Firmenich, the world’s largest privately-owned perfume and taste company, and by perfumers Frank Voelkl and Aimee Vitrucio. The perfume’s notes linger in the air, and are sliced routinely by the airborne kites.