Super Wall Flower by Alan Rath

Visitors to our gallery will see both familiar and new works by our dear friend and collection artist, Alan Rath. Sadly, Alan passed away on October 2020 in Oakland, CA. Anyone who met the San Francisco & Oakland-based artist quickly saw that he had a deep humility and light sense of humor; he expressed both of those beautifully in his pioneering electronic works. Alan had a playful wonder for life and the world and was a joy to know and spend time with. We recently re-exhibited a number Alan’s works at the winery and we are glad that he knew this. Alan is deeply missed but, as with his art, our memory of him and having known him will continue to brighten and delight.

Included in these works is Super Wall Flower, an electronic sculpture which addresses the intersection of the natural and technological worlds. Lifeless cords mimic the sinuous curves and convolutions of an organic form, while the speakers contain petal-like hollows within their metal casings.  The work responds to predetermined electrical impulses, yet uncannily produces a rising and falling beat that greatly resembles a pulse.  Despite appearances, however, this Flower will never grow, change, or deteriorate on its own, three essential criteria in a definition of life.

Visit the Hess Persson Estate Museum to see, hear and feel the work of Alan Rath for yourself.

A few quick questions, answered

What is Super Wall Flower by Alan Rath? An electronic sculpture in which cords and speaker casings evoke an organic flower, while electrical impulses produce a pulse-like beat that blurs the line between the living and the mechanical.

Who was Alan Rath? An MIT-trained electrical engineer who became a pioneering electronic and kinetic sculptor based in the San Francisco Bay Area, who lived from 1959 to 2020.

Where can you see Super Wall Flower? In the Hess Art Collection at Hess Persson Estates on Mount Veeder in Napa Valley, open to the public by reservation.