Colour, as Josef Albers astutely observed
, ‘deceives continually.’
[i]
As I write this text on a laborious train journey, the seat before me, I
would argue, is a faded medium vermillion red, in line with the train
operator’s corporate identity. However the man adjacent to me, who
appears lost in a daydream, may insist that the seat is in fact, cadmium
orange. Who is right? Clearly, this anecdote is rooted in Albers
assertion that colour evokes innumerable readings. This complex process
is defined by a myriad of factors – too numerous to fully explore here.
Ultimately, our interaction with colour is a subjective experience, one
that is both perceptive and cognitive.
[ii]
For thousands of years, creatives have embraced the allure of light –
and colour – as an artistic preoccupation. From early Islamic
architecture that saw nur (light) embraced as a symbol of ‘divine unity’
to J.W.M Turner’s masterful depiction of natural light through pigment
to contemporary interior design techniques, light has been a hugely
significant influence on artistic thought. Crucially, light and colour
have proved to be complex and challenging mediums in their own right. As
the recent blockbuster Hayward exhibition
Light Show demonstrated,
there is an insatiable appetite for artworks that create, arguably, the
most evocative and accessible sensory experiences.
The work of Liz West frequently operates in a dialectical
relationship between site-specify and spatial/sensory experience. By
manipulating artificial light, colour and sculptural form, her work
directly transforms its environment by creating experiential encounters.
Viewers will often encounter installations emitting exuberant colours
that bathe the gallery walls in an iridescent light. Driven by a
cerebral engagement with colour theory, West understands that the
ambience, hue and saturation of artificial light can dramatically
influence the mood and behaviour of viewers. Every burst of colour, hue
and shadow is a calculated decision.
Responding to the raw, spatial idiosyncrasies of Piccadilly Place, an
empty commercial unit in central Manchester, West has presented new
installations and drawings. Freed from the neutrality of the white cube
gallery – and it’s complex diktats – West’s installations absorb and
react to the context of this non-traditional venue.
[iii]
Open until 9pm each night of West’s residency, the large window panels
of Piccadilly Place represent an interesting juxtaposition between the
installations and its immediate environment. As the light ebbs away
towards the dark autumn evenings, the weakened evening light will
strengthen the visual resonance of West’s artificial light; greatly
impacting each viewer’s experience of the work. Colour deceives
continually, I believe. This relationship between the materiality,
environment and sensory experience of her work forges an interesting
context.
West’s recent installation
Consumed (2013)
is a
collection of found and recycled objects, gathered and stripped of any
identifiable labelling. These consumerist objects are displayed within
three large perspex cases. Underneath each of the vitrines, powerful
light boxes emit primary colours, soaking the plastics and radiating
vibrant hues that bleed together on nearby walls. Lowering our gaze
inside the light boxes, the ethereal reflections further distorts our
perception of the objects. In elevating these mundane objects by
directly appropriating museological display methods, such as the vitrine
and systems of ordering/classifying objects, West asks us to consider
the inherent beauty that emerges in these gatherings.
Vanishing Boundaries (2013) signifies a connection between her
long-standing artistic interests (including methodically gathering
objects) and new sculptural experiments. Comprising of an array of
reflective discs protruding above floor level, the installation emits
intense bursts of light from underneath the discs; the concrete floor is
transformed into a field of colour, connected by the trailing
electrical wires. The reflections of the discs also distort ceiling are
multiplied when the viewer explores the work. The hues of each light
gently diminish creating, as the title of the work hints, soft colour
mixes. Notably, the reflective discs also deny us full exposure to the
source of light: a method that West has employed in previous
installations.
For West’s next installation, a sizeable sheet of perspex has been
laid over an assortment of fluorescent sticklights. Your eyes begin to
assess the situation. Unsurprisingly, the vivacious sheet of perspex
transfixes them; cerise, lavender, green, blue and yellow and orange mix
fluidly and without any clear demarcation. The robust form of the
sticklights project out from underneath, like a glimpse at the inner
workings of a complex industrial machine. You notice that four circular
discs hold up the sheet; they are humble paint pots.
Dispersion of White (2013)
opens up a dialogue between the work and the practice of painting. The
subtle introduction of the paint pot is a loaded gesture, one that
creates a visual dichotomy to the painterly sensibility of the light
mixing with the perspex.
The fluorescent sticklight, a key material in West’s new
installations, is perhaps one of the most effective visual tools. Aside
from its obvious exuberant colouring, its most striking feature is its
stripped back materiality. A mass-produced artificial light, fluorescent
sticklights have been components in western culture for well over a
century. For her installation, West has carefully modified each
sticklight to radiate a particular colour. This chosen colour palette is
reminiscent of the neon lights that were so prominent in the 1960s that
coincided with the emergence of installation art.
By methodically considering and then mixing each sticklight in
relationship to each other, West cultivates our perceptions of the work,
drawing on Albers practice based theory that colour can only be truly
understood in relation to other colours and, crucially, our own
knowledge of the colour spectrum. The raw exuberance of the sticklights
then becomes a trigger: the viewer is needed to activate the work.
A significant development in West’s practice is the inclusion of a
selection of recent drawings. These drawings, the first time West has
exhibited such works, have been created using an array of accessible,
yet distinctive materials: electrical tape, spray paint, ink and mirror.
A commonality in all of her drawings is a sense of exploration and
freedom. Spray paint flickers across the page, overlapped by an
uninhibited application of colour. In their materiality and composition,
her drawings possess an undeniable sculptural resonance; one can easily
see them informing future installations. Yet, it would be erroneous to
label them as simply preparatory studies.
The relationship between the sculptor and the act of drawing is a
highly personal affair. Technical drawings are, predominately, confined
to a studio notebook – never to be exhibited but indispensible in the
struggle of translating ideas into concrete outcomes. As creative
endeavour itself, drawing forges a path to artistic truth, as this quote
from sculptor Barbara Hepworth on the critical need for drawing
explains: ‘…I search for forms and rhythms and curvatures for my own
satisfaction…but it is in a general sense – that is – out of the
drawings springs a general influence.’
[iv]
The ‘general influence’ that Hepworth suggests elucidates the power of
drawing to sculptural practice: each mark influences, informs and
nourishes the artistic process. However drawing shouldn’t be confined to
paper based activity. During the creation of her work – whether drawing
on paper or arranging the order of fluorescent sticklights on a
concrete floor – West uses each element as an exploratory tool;
experimenting with colour and space until the work is harmonious with
its surroundings.
The title
On Brown & Violet Grounds is inspired by Albers seminal text
Interaction of Color. Appropriating
a similar vernacular to Albers, West playfully acknowledges that
experimentations are critical in interrogating the possibilities of
colour, light and space. The title of this text,
Schauen, is an Albersian term that, in context, translates as ‘seeing’ – vision coupled with fantasy and imagination.
[v]
It is this freedom in looking, underpinned by our own perceptions,
associations and knowledge of colour, that will enable the viewer to
fully immerse themselves in West’s experiments in and with colour, light
and space.
Jack Welsh, September 2013.
[i] Josef Albers,
Interaction of Color, (London: Yale University Press, 1963)
[ii]
Klaren and Fridell Anter (2011) rightly consider our experience of
colour in space as both perceptive and cognitive, forming part of a
wider interaction between the individual and the world that operates at
many levels.
[iii] It is worth acknowledging Brian O’Doherty’s seminal essays
Inside The White Cube: Notes On The Gallery Space (1976), here: ‘The ideal gallery subtracts from the artwork all cues that interfere with the fact that it is “art.”
[iv] Barbara Hepworth,
‘Approach to Sculpture’,
Studio, vol.132, no.643, Oct. 1946, p.101
[v] Josef Albers,
Interaction of Color, (London: Yale University Press, 1963) p.2.
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