Tribute to Frank J. Malina

Tribute to FrankJ. Malina FrankJ. Malina, artist and builder of the first successful space rocket in the United States,was, and is, my friend,just as his perception of the osmosis between science and art is my daily companion.I can see him in his Boulogne-sur-Seinestudio liftinga sheetof Polaroid,marvellingat itsvaried iridescenceat each vibration of his hand. I can stillhear him explaining the possibility o f tossingseveralhandfuls of lunar ash into the emptiness that surrounds our dead star,creatinga sculp ture with the manipulation of a wand. I still admire his voyage-from constructing the firstAmerican space rocket, up to the luminouspanels,multi-colored and varied,in the space of his artist’shome. I have not ceased to rejoice at receiving by mail his magazine Leonardo,which, by itstitle and contents,brings together not only art and science,but also the period of the Renaissanceand our equally renascent contemporary era. During the time when Frank Malina received my articles and manuscripts,which he found too poetic, his son Rogerw a s there to give them the rigour of the style preferred, without a doubt, by Leonardo da Vinci. Without cease,Frank Malina’sprophetic philosophywas integratedinto my life as a sculptor.For 30years, I have used the thermal technology of granitethat I perfectedwith the inventionof the blow torch “SalamandreAlpha and Beta.”The Sociiti de 1’AirLiquide,represented all over the world,has fabricatedits new blow torch for industrialplasma applications incorporatingmy thermal shieldinvention . By their symmetry,my sculpturesask the question:Why am I symmetricalor almost?(see&onu&, Volume 23, No. 4, 1990).As an explorerof space,I have been able to make avoyage in conversation with the astrophysicistGeorgeMarxfrom the Big Bang to the end of the cosmos,where fragmentsof primitive material move at a speedapproaching light, probablycreatingspacewithin the non-space,to find my friend,FrankJ. Malina. PIERRE SZEKELY Honorary Editor 3bis, ImpasseVilliersde 1’IsleAdam, 75020 Paris,France. Editorials 275 ...