(Wall Flower No.1 by Norman Mooney, photo: Candice Heberer)
Bring to Light
This past weekend, Michael and I attended Bring to Light, New York City’s first Nuit Blanche festival. It’s a one-night gathering of artists, performers and musicians that starts at dusk and goes all night. Having been lucky enough to attend similar events in both Toronto and Tel Aviv, I was pretty excited to find out that this festival was taking place in my own backyard, Greenpoint.
Initially, I was a little underwhelmed and even slightly disappointed with the limited scale and breadth of the event, but as I made my way through the streets, I stumbled upon a few pieces that piqued my interest and gave me food for thought in the days after.
The photo above highlights one of the works I was particularly fond of that night. A new work, Wall Flower No.1 by Norman Mooney. His exhibited work included both wall and free-standing sculptures made of cast aluminum and/or resin of various bright colors, as well as large scale carbon drawings on paper. I was personally drawn to the wall sculptures; I like the play between 2D and 3D that is created depending on your distance and angle to the piece. From a distance and straight-on perspective, the sculptures appear as pristine large-scale drawings or paintings of color bursts that appear soft and feel somewhat reserved, but moving to the side or getting closer you are confronted with sharp protruding spikes, which in contrast are loud and imposing. I’m intrigued by the simplicity of form and color and its ability to incorporate such different feelings.
Another piece that I enjoyed (better seen in person) was a light projection by artist Ryan Uzilevsky of Light Harvest. Using a seven-story building as his backdrop, he projected a 6x3 grid of rectangles which fit nicely into the exterior facade and gave the illusion that you were looking into the interior. I’ve heard the content was changing all night, but the loop that I witnessed filtered through a variety of geometric compositions that reminded me of Bauhaus architectural drawings and light value studies. It was minimal, clean and gave new depth to the side of the building.
All in all, I think the night was a good foundation for growth and I’ll be looking forward to next year. In addition, I was happy to see families and kids in attendance. I appreciate events that, whether a goal or not, help to create a more comfortable and approachable venue to view and appreciate art.
This post has 1 note and tag: # art # Nuit Blanche # light # Bring to Light # Greenpoint # NYC # sculpture .
