Images of the Installation Five Curves for Aether

The installation comprised of five elements, each positioned as a response to the gallery space.

To prepare for this I made a scale model of the gallery so that I could orchestrate the composition at my studio.
I also screened off the gallery windows to create a completely dark space and painted the floor to give a more reflective surface. 

At the studio I made the five elements. Each was constructed from two 2.5m plastic corner strips (purchased from Wickes) and glued together to make one long 5m strip. Each strip had three 5m lengths of EL wire; one taped to the apex of the outside corner, (this is the one you can see) and two taped on the inside faces of the strip (these are the ones behind the strips that project light back onto the walls, ceiling and floor)

Once each element had been positioned (which I did mostly with masking tape), and I knew exactly where each strip made contact with the surfaces it was to be fixed, I glued a concealed bracket onto the backs of the strips and put a screw into the surface which the bracket slid onto. As the visible lengths of EL wire had buckled during bending and installation, I then had to re-tape all of them to stretch the EL wire into the new curve to achieve a good quality of line.

The following sequence of images take you through the installation having emerged from the blacked-out light trap constructed in the corridor.

New Show

The title of the show refers to the ancient Greek primordial god of light and the upper atmosphere, it is also a nod to Dan Flavin who pioneered the use of industrial produced fluorescent lights and often included dedications in the titles of his work. Flavin's use of direct lines of coloured light over washes of light reflected from the walls and corners of art galleries has been a significant influence.

Flavin Untitled (For Harold Joachim 3) 1977

For the last year I have been experimenting with electro luminescent wire attached to strips of plastic. These strips are have a 90 degree L shaped cross section, placing the wire on the outside at the apex and inside enables me to have strong lines of direct light and also to project washes of coloured light onto surrounding surfaces. As the strips are flexible I can bend them into spaces to create tension curves, which in turn project curved patterns of light onto walls. 

The first body of curves were created at my studio last year.

Two 10m Studio Stair Curves seen from below August 2012

Two 10m Studio Stair Curves seen from above August 2012

Three studio curves August 2012

During September 2012 I took the curves I had made up and installed them into vacant  spaces at DeMontfort University. These formed the bases of my assessment for the fist year of my part time Fine Art MA.

Links to previous work 

UV based Chromophilia show

A Range of sculpture and installation work from the last eight years