Kenny Irwin, Jr.

Kenny Irwin, Jr. was born on May 6, 1974, in Palm Springs, California, where his father owns a spa and resort. He was his parents' first boy after eight daughters, later joined by a younger brother. Since birth, Irwin has been dreaming "lucid dream immersion experiences of our Galactic realm in perfect memorable detail." His dreams have provided explanations for events from long ago and those yet to come in the distant future, "spanning a timeline untold billions of years into the future, documenting alien civilizations primitive, advanced and epically diverse in infinite forms." Eventually he discovered that much of the language appearing in his dreams was written in Farsi, Pastu, Urdu, and Arabic letters, which, he explains, are "apparently most comparable to otherworldly advanced languages." Irwin converted to Sufism at an early age. His dreams are always about other forms of life, ultra-advanced technology, and tell a coherent story from a specific beginning to an end. "It is memory of everyday life that is not as clear as my memory of dreams. I remember every dream I have ever had—numbering over 60,000 dream memories that drive the very foundation of my artwork as well as my expression."

At 13, the artist began his ornate and imaginative RoboLights installation, a gigantic, public art experience. In its first year, the installation featured around 15,000 lights attached to Irwin's huge recycled art robots, which he assembles by hand. By 2007, RoboLights included 6.2 million lights, and was drawing visitors and admirers from all over the world. Irwin has built over 200 robots at his family home, some as large as 68 feet tall and weighing up to 54 tons.

"Diversity, and creative expression of that diversity, can be our greatest strength, not a global quest for uniformity between all cultures. I am blessed to be in this beautiful world in an infinite realm of the unknown yet to be explored and knowledge gained through the very innocence of our curiosity that makes us simply the kind caring humans we have the capacity to be. Duas salaams." – Kenny Irwin, Jr.

Links: To learn more about Kenny Irwin, Jr., visit: http://kennyirwinartist.com