Slipstream

Slipstream

by William LaChance

Location: Terminal 1, Near Gate A15

LaChance wanted to create an artwork for St. Louis Lambert International Airport that was site-specific without being overtly so, and he also wanted to create an image with a complicated narrative that would engage the viewer. To achieve this narrative quality while staying within the parameters of the glass technique, he pared down the composition to a single figure and created an image that recalls film stills or cinema, exploiting the inherent filmic characteristics of the piece’s format – its movie screen-like aspect ratio, the transparency of the glass, and the triptych’s intermittent divisions. The deadpan composition and the keyed-up color hues, as well as the gesture of the figure facing away from the viewer, are all meant to reinforce this movie-like quality and evoke in the viewer a kind of empathetic narrative. The abundance of sky, the absence of a horizon line, and the garment worn by the figure are all subtle references to flight and travel.