• Initials BB
    A Black Balloon story 

    by Tadao Cern

  • Black Balloon 1

    Black Balloon 1


    Black Balloon 1
     is an open edition composed of 2 balloons. This sculpture can be hung on a wall, placed on the floor or suspended.

    Access to the work

     

  • Black Balloon 2

    Black Balloon 2

    Black Balloon is an open edition of in-situ installation. The artist defines the occupation of a space by composing a set of balloon pairs.

     

  • Inflatable Balloons for ephemeral installations

    Inflatable Balloons for ephemeral installations

     

    From the start all the iterations of the project 'BB' have been created using strict compositions of inflatable objects, which made these sculptures very temporary and fragile. They had to be maintained like bouquets of flowers throughout the whole period of exhibiting them. Lightness and ephemerality of the balloon compositions have been a big part of the whole idea behind this concept.

  • Yet, the artist felt the urge to invert the process and try an experiment with an opposing notion - something very fragile and light to be created as something that can be sustained. In the long process of research, failures and experiments the artist managed to perfect a process of creating balloon compositions that never deflate and ‘float’ forever. As a result, the sculptures are hand-painted and hand-made using polyurethane and metal.

     

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    Black Baloon Series:

    Tadao Cern often considers dualities and contradictions-lightness and heaviness, minimal and intricate, inanimate and lively. He channels these relational tensions into 'BB,' installations featuring black balloons that float in parallel planes and incline in rows. They represent nothing, a true emptiness. Which is felt every single time looking at the cloud of these black floating objects, eagerly waiting to be forced to react to our presence with no message, no notion. It's just a dialog between us and them; here and now - which will develop into a reminiscence of an idea once balloons will deflate and the work will become nonexistent again.

     

    The result of this research through materials and techniques has allowed the artist to develop a perennial sculpture with a lightness comparable to the inflatable balloons. Each of these balloons are handmade by the artist who ensures their quality.

    The two balloons are connected with a metal line, resembling two points that run away from each other and simultaneously hold onto each other - like the dialogue between the Zenith and Nadir.

     

     

  • Step into the Art

    Making of the installation