Light Tree:I was in part influenced by the work of Dan Flavin, who worked exclusively with florescent tubing. While there are some connections to be drawn, I think that Light Tree:I took the same medium and attempted to use it in a very different context. My goals for experimenting with florescent tubing was to try to use light sculpturally. Florescent tubes proved to be a good medium for this- when removed from their ballast they become simple sticks of light. When I think of the work that Flavin was best known for, it is mainly two-dimensional in nature- mounted on a wall or in a hallway. He relies heavily on the color mixing nature of the tubes in close proximity, but very few of his pieces had a structural quality to them. Light Tree:I was about creating a three-dimensional sculpture with light. I wanted to have people walk around the work, to stand under a crisscrossed web of light. We often don’t think about light this way- we usually perceive light as it is reflected off of other surfaces, not as a surface itself to be observed.
Light Tree:I was a great example of how important location is for light-art. I used the Lighting Lab for this piece, and I think the work suffered as a result. While the height of the grid in Studio 210 and the Lighting Lab are roughly equal, the piece fought against the small width and depth of the room. The viewer simply could not get far enough from the piece to take it all in. While I like the idea at the core of Light Tree:I, I think its’ execution was one of my less successful in terms of creating beauty with light.