Features

• This mixed-media work of aluminum, magnets, and mahogany floats on the crest of an invisible magnetic wave, moving slightly with ambient air currents but never losing altitude—even when a hand is passed beneath it.
• The magnetic levitation system, invented by sculptor and installation artist Tom Shannon, utilizes safe, permanent magnets that never lose their strength, so the piece hovers indefinitely until it is physically moved.
• The sculpture is available in a 16-inch limited edition of 100 or a 6-foot limited edition of 8, each signed and numbered by Shannon.
• In Art in America, April 1999, scholar and curator Francis M. Naumann said, "It is not [Shannon's] intent to create an illusion for its own sake. Rather, he wants to heighten awareness of our own physical existence..."
• The artist's works have been exhibited internationally since, at age 22, an early piece was selected for the Museum of Modern Arts' landmark 1969 exhibition, "The Machine."
• As much an inventor as an artist, Shannon holds several patents: for the first tactile telephone (it transmits touch as well as voice), a color television projector, and a synchronous world clock that is part of the Smithsonian Institution collection.
• In "Dreamboat," he unites magnetic power with the power of an artist's vision—and the result elevates the spirit and the imagination.

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