HISTORY OF FLIGHT - 1972
Although few specific are known about this 18-panel work, History of Flight, it was “a similar project” to Indigenous Inhabitants (1968) in that the artist was using the same “process of designing waste molds which are placed right into the contractor’s forms.” [1] Van Sant’s fascination with kite making began while he was working on the History of Flight.
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Civil Aeronautics Administration Building
Songshan, Taipei, Taiwan
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1972
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Sara Chang
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Exposed aggregate concrete
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Eighteen panels
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Unknown
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People’s Republic Of China or the
Taiwan Civil Aeronautics Authority?
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Unknown.
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N/A
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In a 2008 interview, Van Sant explained that his fascination with kite making began while hewas working on the History of Flight:
“And when I went to Taipei, Taiwan, to execute a sculptured mural for the Civil Aeronautics Administration in Taiwan, I asked about the Chinese kite makers that might have come out of China in 1949 when the Communists took over. And I finally found somebody that said, "Oh, well, you ought to go see Mr. Wong in this little town about an hour outside of Taipei and next to a river." And I got a jeep and a driver, and we went out there and found Mr. Wong, this 80-year-old guy. See, I say that, an 80-year-old man. In a couple of years, I'm going to be 80. But they still seem like old men to me. [Laughs.] So, Mr. Wong was wonderful, and he made these kites. And I got so excited about them. And I said, "Well, when I get back home, I'm going to make some kites." [2]
Tony Sheets assisted Van Sant on this project.
[1] “An interview with Tom Van Sant,” Soundings-The Pacific Mutual Magazine, 1972
[2] Jo Lauria, “Oral History Interview with Tom Van Sant,” Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 2008.
