Cathy's Art Diary

Illuminating exhibition at Fabrica in Brighton of light works by Ron Haselden as part of the Brighton Festival and apologies for the pun! These were large neon light sculptures in a dark interior based on drawings by older people., According to the commentary the idea was that the art work emits light and that that older people bring important knowledge and perspective to society. I must admit I didn’t grasp that at the time but I liked the work. The separate works were put together into a large cube shaped installation and your view of it changed as you walked round it. I loved a roughly draw dog, a big man’s head then a strange rabbit in a bow tie. Closed 29 May 2016  

Lovely open air exhibition at Canary Wharf of light sculptures and installations. There were about 15 pieces on display the weekend we went round and although it was very cold it was fun to look for the different works, popping into shopping malls as we went to much needed hot chocolate. Our favourite wasn’t that exciting to look at as it was a column on lights in red, white and blue but when you read the commentary it said it reacted to mobile phone signals so we phoned each other up and found that it moved in rhythm with our speech. Even better our laughter at this sent it into overdrive. It was called Totem by the Bitone Collective. I also loved Bit.Fall by Julius Cope on Middle Dock which was illuminated drops of water falling to create words from news stories. It’s hard to describe but it was a magical cascade of words in the air. Also worth a mention is Fantastic Planet by Amanda Parer, a large inflated crouching figures. This is the second year I’ve b...

Lovely exhibition at White Cube, Mason’s Yard of work by Larry Bell. Bell is part of the California “Light and Space” movement which I had not come across before. It seems to combine sculptural form and light. These works seemed to be sculptural works which included light and were also changed by light. The new works were described as Light Knots sculptures and were free hanging works in polyester film which absorbed and reflected the light in different ways are almost seemed to disappear at times. Downstairs were larger works including “Corner Lamp” which formed a diamond shaped rainbow on the wall. Also “6x8 An Improvisation” which was a maze of tall plains of, I guess, glass and mirrors. Sometimes you could see through it and sometimes you were reflected in it. It was slightly disorientating and very clever.      

Fun trail around Canary Wharf featuring light sculptures. Some of the works were beautiful and static such as the three dresses by   Tae Gon Kim and the deer by Cedric Le Borgne. Others were more interactive such as the cube you walked round the outside of pulling the light effect long with you and the Ice Angel by Cinimod which I had a play with.   Thank you to my companion for the afternoon Hilary for the photo! The event would have benefited from better signage. The map was good but only showed where the exhibits which are staying for the whole month are it didn’t show the ones for the specific Winter Lights weekend. Some of them were hard to find and it was hard to plan a route. I also admit it was blooming cold (not the exhibitions fault!) which made I more imperative to be able to move between objects quickly and accurately!