Laredo Center for the Arts

Full of Cold Air

July 3, 2008 - August 29, 2008

Opening Party - July 11th 6:00-8:00

Art Party at the Laredo Center for the Arts.

Performance artist, Jimmy Kuehnle, crashes back into the Texas art world in a big puff of cold air. His Big Red cold air inflatable suit made of nylon turns the performance artist into a bounding, expanding, bloated, big ball of red delight. Kuehnle, known for cross-city public interactive performances, will simultaneously Laredo at the Laredo Center for the Arts while performing around the city in his latest status-quo questioning monstrosity. Inside the Goodman Gallery Kuehnle will exhibit an interactive site-specific inflatable installation.

The suit is powered by a 12v blower motor, freeing Kuehnle to squeeze though narrow streets and dodge oncoming cars and pedestrians without the need to be plugged in. The performance will continue his message of, "Stop. Talk to me. We are both people." Kuehnle makes his art 50% for himself and 50% for the viewer. The bright color of the red suit should attract the attention of pedestrians making nonsense of common sense. The handmade inflatable suit is about 16 feet tall, 24 feet wide and 15 feet long. Using about 160 yards of fabric and countless meters of thread, the suit engulfs Kuehnle in a conflagration of inflated cones.

Big Red Inflatable suit ready for Laredo, Texas.

Laredo Morning Times - Press

Front page story in the laredo Morning Times about Jimmy Kuehnle's performance art

Christina Rosales. "Artist Finds Heat in Laredo," Laredo Morning Times 12 July 2008.