‘SKY LIGHTS’ Gallery installation, 2023
Photography courtesy of Cesar Cueva
SOLO EXHIBITION: LUX NOCTURNA
With the night as her muse, Cinnamon Lee returns to the illuminated object and the often hidden beauty of the night. In keeping with her ongoing fascination with the covert, these new works explore the allure of secret treasures found only under the cover of darkness…
ARTIST STATEMENT
“As the sun sets and evening falls, another world awakes - one where only the darkness of night can reveal the secret treasures it hides…”
For this exhibition I returned to my own phototaxis, my attraction to light: the ability for it to transform and enliven the presence of objects. There is no light without darkness, and this important contrast remains a constant source of inspiration for my designs. ‘Lux nocturna’, or ‘night light’, can be more explicitly interpreted as ‘light belonging to the night.’ This exhibition therefore muses on the elusive and often fleeting moments specific to nocturnal life.
The age-old practice of shadow play, or the effect of obscuring light through interference, is both a decorative and symbolic feature in this exhibition. Shadows are formed by the absence of light, but are simultaneously also the evidence of light. The Underwing Lamps for example, specifically feature shadows that are integral to the potency of their illuminated subjects. These lamps draw on a study of nocturnal moths, in particular the sphingidae species, which often conceal bold or brightly decorated details beneath their modest hind wings. They are night flyers, silent beauties with colours and patterns often secreted like hidden jewels beneath the wings of their unassuming exteriors.
UNDERWING Lamp, 2023
Aluminium, nylon, addressable LEDs. Photography courtesy of Cesar Cueva
To amplify the magic of such fleeting displays, the Underwing Lamps exploit the inherent intensity of addressable multi-chip LEDs. The individual red, green and blue diodes, when excited by electrons produce vibrant, pure forms of coloured light, and when this light is directed to find its path around solid metal perforations, it has the effect of being split rather than blended, creating a tri-colour effect suggestive of wings. The colourful ‘shadows’ can be shifted to change shape by rotating the central housing, while the lamp colours have been individually programmed using open-source software. Playful and interactive, these ornamental lamps are a celebration of nature and technology.
In dialogue with this colourful array of techno-flyers, the Night Jewels series marries jewellery with light and shadow. Wearable brooches with hidden gems are fixed to flashlights to double as light sculptures, and like much of my work, highlight the often overlooked, hidden beauty of the discreet.
‘NIGHT JEWEL’ gallery installation, 2023
Photography courtesy of Cesar Cueva
NIGHT JEWEL - Brooch Projector, 2023
Titanium, 925 silver, orange sapphires, flashlight and stand. Photography courtesy of Cesar Cueva
Camouflaged wing patterns are transferred from brooch to wall (or any other surface) through hand-drilled titanium discs using small spotlights, enabling small treasures to be uncovered and magnified larger than life. Micro becomes macro. Dull disguise conceals precious gems. The literal use of flashlights here is an intentional reference to our forays into the darkness of night in search of nocturnal creatures, and hidden secrets.
The Skylight series also explores notions of the hidden. Arcane panels made from layers of industrially perforated black aluminium sheeting are used to create tangible ‘screens’, like dark veils, representing the reduced vision, obscured views, and mysteries belonging to the night.
SKYLIGHT, 2023
Aluminium, acrylic, addressable LEDs. Photography courtesy of Cesar Cueva
As daylight fades, surroundings darken forming black silhouettes against a sky that momentarily comes to life. The colour transitions displayed by each Skylight have been programmed to emulate these crepuscular sky-scapes, while the mesh layers not only enable an optical illusion of depth and dimension, but also suggest a sense of mystique. Like the torches that illuminate the moth brooches, the mesh also alludes to screen doors and the artificial lights of domestic life that attract nocturnal flyers to land on screen doors in summer. A physical barrier to the moth, here it is penetrated by the light inside the dark.
LUX NOCTURNA Triptych, 2023
Aluminium, addressable LEDs. Photography courtesy of Cesar Cueva
The particular type of ‘light’ suggested by the exhibition title is extended both physically and conceptually in the Lux Nocturna Triptych - a new avenue for experiment in art, light and sound, which I have undertaken in collaboration with musician Alex Young. The sparse, yet distinctively haunting sounds of Young’s new hybrid instrument, the Slide Piano, stimulated the initial inspiration for this triptych and is an integral feature of the work.
“There is an extraordinary richness and depth derived from Young’s treatment of this new instrument that resonates on a very visceral level.”
For this unique collaboration we found common ground in our shared experience of coastal weather systems, in particular, the drama of east-coast storm-scapes, in conjunction with a mutual affection for the sonic terrain of the slide guitar, which Young now applies to his Slide Piano. His original composition therefore, provides the instrumental soundscape for my interpretive response with light, resulting in a unique multi-sensory experience.
I see it as a kind of play between two artists, two disciplines, two mediums, between the material and immaterial, object, sound, light and shade. Provoked by a tempestuous night-scape, the sounds of Young’s new hybrid instrument appears as if to conjure light from the darkness. Three black mesh panels conceal carefully configured trails of light, which are synchronised with Young’s original score creating a dynamic visual composition. Alluding to the thrill of a storm, Lux Nocturna presents a cyclical journey from calm to chaos and back. Like a dance or a sort of vision, this collaboration is an expression of how the two mediums can be choreographed to enhance a uniquely emotive experience.
A set of motifs familiar to my practice, are revealed during the ‘performance’ of this work. And while they are universally significant in terms of their associations with metamorphosis and the cyclical nature of all things, for me they also symbolise elements of unique beauty belonging to darkness. The heart has surreptitiously worked its way into my design vocabulary over the years and for Lux Nocturna I pay homage to its evolving significance in my practice. This time as an ever-changing tracery of light, the heart re-surfaces as a kind of geometric pulse, an enduring motif that offers all that such an emblematic icon may summon: both internal and external forces of nature, life, love, death and rebirth. Similarly the moth is also a recurring symbol for change and transformation, and most importantly appears here as a prevailing totem for covert beauty.
The opening of this exhibition featured a live performance by Alex Young on his Slide Piano – created as part of his Master of Philosophy candidature at University of Wollongong. A recording of this music accompanies the exhibition throughout its duration.
Alex Young’s Slide Piano
Photography courtesy of Cesar Cueva
WHEN: 17 June - 29 July 2023
WHERE: Seven Marks Gallery - 7 Marks Street, Kiama NSW AUSTRALIA
GALLERY HOURS: Fridays 10am-5pm + Saturdays 10am-3pm
Or by appointment - info@sevenmarksgallery.com