Liz West is British visual artist, famous for site specific artworks, sculpture and immersive light art installations. The exhibition is called ‘LUCE’ and is framed as a conversation between two UK based artists, (the other being the artist Jemma Appleby) and ‘Their exploration of the intricate relationship between architecture, light, and the human responses these two invoke.
The ground floor, where our focus was concentrated, is occupied by the light installation from Liz West, entitled ‘Our Spectral Vision’.
The first thought that enters into your mind if you are familiar, is that the piece is quite reminiscent of those by the late pioneering American artist Dan Flavin (1933 – 1996) who was famous for creating sculptural objects, and installations from commercially available light fixtures (well worth a look at if light art is what rocks your boat, and if they ever come back to the U.K.!)
This piece comprising seven standing towers was originally commissioned by the Natural history museum and uses dichroic glass – a material that changes tone when viewed from different positions. The beauty of this art is in its relationship to you when you move through the room and pass the sculptures, ‘colours dance inside’ as the prisms are reflected from one to the other when your viewpoint changes, and the seven prisms transform the gallery space into ‘a realm of imagination and exploration’.
The work shown here and currently on sale is a mere ‘taster‘ of Liz West’s work, with a far larger solo exhibition in the pipeline : ‘ Colour Ways : Light Works by Liz West’ will be shown at The Wilson in Cheltenham starting on March the 21st, where Liz will invite the viewer to explore how sensory phenomena can invoke psychological and physical responses, ‘By creating vivid environments that mix luminous colour and radiant light’.
We will certainly be there to report on what we see, after what feels like a long grey winter, being immersed in colour sounds like absolute paradise!
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Liz’s next UK show: 21 March – 7 June : Colour-ways: Light Works by Liz West, The Wilson, Cheltenham, UK
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Retrospective view:
Installation: Your Colour Perception: Castleford Gallery, Manchester, 2015
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