Perspective Landscape

Perspective Landscape, Detail

This is a sculpture I did for my Major Studio class. In this assignment, we were required to take our inspiration from a cultural event. We had to transform an idea from the original piece using a different medium.

My inspiration was an exhibit of prints by Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, and Fred Sandback (images below). These pieces evoked architectural models, page margins, framing, and the idea of looking at an object from multiple perspectives. They also reminded me of illuminated manuscripts, in which text is framed by imagery. Illuminated manuscripts have also inspired some of my previous work. In particular, the Nature of Language series.

I developed the idea to create a three dimensional collage box, in which each panel is an image in relief. I took this project as an opportunity to reexamine my collage work in light of my recent work at Parsons with animation and physical computing. The panels are lit from within using LEDs. They light up in sequence, and only one panel is lit at a time.

I chose the landscape as my subject. In particular, I was inspired by recent abnormal weather events I have experienced. These events are likely, but not definitively linked to climate change. They include wildfires, droughts, and hurricane Sandy in 2012, and the polar vortex of 2014. Climate change is a force that is ever present. We know it is affecting our weather patterns, and yet it is difficult to know if any particular weather event is related to climate change.

In this piece, each panel looks in upon the same subject, yet the subject is never really visible except as a suggested relationship between the panels. The text is intended to be scanned rather than read. It comes from two sources dealing with climate change and energy production and use. I wanted the viewer to be able to pick up on the context without creating a written narrative.