Stealth to Bring You Home
Author
Erika Wanenmacher
(American, born 1955)
Date2007
MediumBalsa wood, paint and light-emitting doides
DimensionsOverall Size of Sculpture: 62 1/2 × 42 × 8 in., 3 lb. (158.8 × 106.7 × 20.3 cm, 1.4 kg)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineGift of David R. and Susan J. Hill, 2022
Object number2022.12.3
DescriptionWooden sculpture in the shape of an airplane-like insect. The sculpture is painted black, and lights are imbedded into the sculpture.eMuseum Notes
Prompted by the military's cultural monopoly on the model of "stealth" technology at the end of the 20th century, Santa Fe artist Erika Wanenmacher was inspired to try to claim the concept. Her 2007 sculptural series "I Stole Stealth, Coyote Taught Me" included multiple sculptures taking the form of a stealth flyer but in these prototypes the artists has repurposed the technology towards nurturing service rather than military or espionage. Whereas stealth aircraft are most effective in the dark Stealth to Bring You Home produces its own light, casting white light out of perforations representing constellation in the Western Hemisphere covering its black angular surface. Perhaps the stars are what this aircraft is using to navigate a safe return home.
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