Developing Art Practice

So for this project I had to produce an artist proposal to be submitted for either an commission piece or for an artist in residence. I decided after my researched into cosmology and planetary sciences that i would apply to the Centre of Astrophysics and Planetary Science (CAPS) at the university of Kent with a Dr. Duncan MacKay.


To start my research i started looking at Anish Kapoor and his pieces 'Non-Ojects' (image 1)

Image 1

This is one of my favourite as i have personally had the pleasure to experience the effect of standing inside. When inside you gain a real sense of distoriation and feel consumed by the black space around you. Because of the concave shape i found myself, with the  reverse upside down reflection, feeling dizzy and nausias. Even though this experience was not very nice and in thinking about me is making my dizzy i find it fansinating how this polished black almost egg shaped sculpture can create such a strong sensual experience. I would like to use this idea of an uneasy felling with in my own work as i felt it heightens the views senses and changes there perception of there sounding space.


Another Artist who has recently inspired me was James Turral and his use and understanding of light to create a body of work. He has studied astronomy, psychology, mathmatics, fine art, art history and the psychology of perception. I find this amazing along side his heritage of a father who was an aeronautical engineer and a educator mother who was a quaker that James has this deeper understanding of the theroy of light and how to use it within his work to create installations that engulf the viewer and aulters their percetion of the space in which they stand. Like Kapoor, Turral uses colour in a way that the audience feel surrounded and emerged with in the peice like in the image below (image 2)

Image 2

With all of his understanding from his studies Turrel has a fasination with challenging the audience's understand or persective of viewing our sky and universe and one way her does this is my his peices where he cuts a hole in the ceiling in a room as if putting a frame around the sky as to draw the audiences eye upwards. (image 3)

Image 3

It is his fasination with challenging the audience perception and the night sky where i find myself drawn in. Turrells latest project called Rodins Crater is one project that i feel brings all his knowledge together. Quoted by him:


"I wanted to use the very fine qualities of light. First of all, moonlight. There's a space where you can see your shadow from the light of Venus alone- things like this. I also wanted to gather starlight that was from outside the planetary system, which would be from the sun or reflected off of the moon or a planet...you've got this older light that's away from the light even of our galaxy. So that is light that would be at least three and a half billion years old. So you're gathering light that's older than our solar system."
- James Turrell

To better explain how and what Turrell in visions this piece to do i have included a video interview.

It is save to say that i have also inquired a thirst in knowing and understanding more about our natural planet and the night sky and plan to investigate more.