30 Sept 2016
Projection work, BEAMS festival Chippendale, Sydney.
This projection work was developed for the 2016 BEAMS festival, a one- night only immersive event in the laneways and venues of the Chippendale Cultural Precinct in Sydney's CBD. Directed by NIcky Ginsberg and opened by Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Mooore, the event was well-attended and drew crowds of over thirty thousand people. More About Beams 2016.
The work, titled "Post- Painterly Test Pattern" was installed alongside several murals, performances, works-in-situ and live artworks in Teggs Lane. Festival goers delighted in being awash with colour as they were silhouetted by twin projectors, against the animated formal compositions of colour pairs.
The work was developed as part of my exploration into post painterly abstraction and is an homage to artists such as Kenneth Noland, Johannes Itten, Martin Creed, Jasper Johns, and Daniel Buren, referencing some of the structural motifs used throughout their iconic works: stripe, square, target, circle and X. The work was intended to be read as a 'painting brought to life', being presented outside of the gallery system in living, moving, intense colour.
The animation was created using fully saturated colours so as to have maximum visual impact when projected in the streetscape. Shapes appear and disappear leaving trace optical imprints behind. Colours layer, overlap and oscillate as they transition from composition to composition. The timing of the animation is such that the viewer may not be able to register the image and colour palette completely before it moves on to the next. At times, contrasting and complementary colours produce warping and ghosting effects.