LUX NOCTURNA TRIPTYCH

Aluminium / addressable LEDS

1100 x 1100 x 60mm (each panel)

This work presents 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 experimental 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. 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 appear 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.

This work was part of the exhibition LUX NOCTURNA, Seven Marks Gallery, 2023.