Discover Marina del Rey

Artwork Statement

Sunset Vestige is the latest Skynet artwork by Patrick Shearn and his team at Poetic Kinetics. Encompassing 5,000 sq. ft. at Marina del Rey’s Burton Chace Park, the artwork bursts with color that emulates the vibrant glow of a California sunset, memorializing a quality of light that can only be witnessed via ephemeral spectacle. Made up of approximately 40,000 streamers, the artwork rises and falls upon the ocean breeze, mirroring the calming ebb and flow of the adjacent waterfront, while its brilliant shade juxtaposes the cool, contrasting palette of the landscape.

Shearn’s signature Skynet artworks are conceived to evoke the natural phenomenon of flocking, like the murmuration of starlings, the schooling of fish, or the swarming of insects. Suspended using transparent monofilament netting and rigged inconspicuously, the undulating forms appear to levitate in midair, finessed by the unique wind patterns of a specific site.

As an artist based in Los Angeles, Shearn is proud to work in partnership with the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and Los Angeles County Department of Beaches & Harbors to share his vision with friends, family, the local Marina del Rey community, and the public at large. The inauguration of Sunset Vestige coincides with the Discover Marina del Rey event on May 20, 2018.

Artist Biography

Patrick Shearn is an LA-based artist specializing in larger-than-life, immersive public art installations. The artist’s signature kinetic sculptures, called Skynets, earned him international renown after the debut of Liquid Shard enamored the city of Los Angeles, transforming an underused public square in the heart of downtown into a bustling destination overnight. Shearn has since brought Skynet installations to various locations in the U.S. and abroad where viewers are invariably compelled to slow down and take time to follow the undulating movement of the artworks, which appear to hang in thin air.

Shearn’s expertise in animatronics, robotics and visual effects–gleaned from a 30-year tenure in the film industry as a creature maker and visual effects supervisor–has lent traction to a prolific career as creative director for his studio, Poetic Kinetics. Under his guiding vision, Poetic Kinetics has designed, fabricated, and implemented a wide range of projects that encourage audience participation–from interactive projection mapping and pyrotechnics to enormous mobile sculptures.