Latent Energy
The earlier experiments eventually led to a series of works exploring what he saw as a latent energy and dynamic potential in industrial and architectural structures. He had been greatly inspired by images of the Apollo Moon Missions in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, and particularly by film footage from the gantry as the giant rockets took off. The footage shows only a small section of the rocket at any one time, as it slowly rises up past the camera starting with the small nosecone containing the astronauts, moving on to the larger stage rockets and finishing with the enormous main body of the craft with its propulsion units blasting out flame. Before seeing the action of the flame, the body of the craft seemed to rise quietly and sublimely driven by some hidden energy. It was this latent energy that he had seen embodied in so many man-made industrial and architectural structures from his childhood through to the present time.
The series of works tried to explore this idea of latent energy and the balance and tension held in static but energised structures. A large number of maquettes were produced through the 1970’s, records of which are now lost.
