This week we look at the light-reactive dimension of my art.
In the beginning light was not a part of my art, that came about pretty much by accident as I was preparing for my landmark 'VOYAGE' exposition in early 2016.
That show at the time was a big one for me, due to the expectations and the investments in a show of this scale, including the 1 year leadup and preparation for it. I was about to feature my flagship work, the 12m Voyage painting, and was finishing mounting it in the Nishi Gallery with a whole team of people when I had this idea that wouldn't it be interesting to get a bunch of UV/RGB lights and light this piece- after all it was full of neon/fluorescent paint that could have some interstingeffect. That night 2 days away from my exposition opening I asked the head of the cultural programs in NewActon if they help me out and to light the piece, because its not everyday you have a 12m painting that has potential to be lit up by it. The next day the lighting technician from the Enlighten festival said that we could find all the UV parcan lights he had and we would totally immerse it in UV, totaling in excess of 100K lumens. The photo above is of Voyage under UV light the night before the exhibition opening. The portal to the cosmos was open, and the beginning of my journey with paining and light had just begun.
'Destiny transforms under UV light. The light picks up the infinitesimal details in this work, from the sweeping marks to the soft and ethereal veils of colour that make up the atmospheric background.
'Medusa' seems to to explode into life as the highly luminescent background blazes with heat. This piece also has phosphorescent elements that glow in the dark to add that extra level of depth and dimensionality in the art experience once the light source is taken away.
“When light interacts with my organic works, the hidden dimensions and emotions in them become immediately accessible. And for that moment it is if the art has a 'temperature' that it didn't have before."
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