HEART STUDY: PEACOCK 2001-05
This series of sculptures were made at the time of the death of my father. The names of the works are derived from english butterflies, which were collected by him and his brother as boys, during the time of World War II.
The forms of the works are illuminated by light filtering out through the body of the salt that encases them. This light pulses from side to side, making the objects move from omitting to refracting light on alternating side of the structure. With the result that the optically human eye interprets this motion as the physical solid structure is expending and contracted to the beat of the light.
The body of the mass is made from two glass neon tubes joined to make a three dimensional armatures over which a white body of salt is grown. This outer salt body is a crystalline structure that has grown over a two and a half years process and has taken hundreds of hours of rotation to build the surface up. Many of the works did not make it through to completion, as the process was complex and unknown. The only survivor of the series are two heads and six hearts forms.
The works remain stable within a dry atmosphere, however they are very delicate and responsive to their environment. The light source is alive leaving the viewer ultimately responsible and aware, that every time they switch the work on, they control and are directly affect the longevity of the work.
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