- Venue
- ARCADECARDIFF Unit 3b, Queens Arcade, Queen Street, Cardiff , CF10 2BY ARCADECARDIFF
- Starts
- Thursday, December 17, 2015
- Ends
- Friday, January 8, 2016
- Address
- Unit 3b Queens Arcade Queen Street Cardiff CF10 2BY
- Location
- Wales
- Organiser
- Arcadecardiff
Arcadecardiff is delighted to present the first exhibition in Wales by Liz West. Comprising new light work made site-specifically, the exhibition Zenith Blue + Primary Red features a psychical demonstration of colour mixing and optics which fills the space with radiant colour and luminous light for visitors to explore.
Liz West uses multiple fluorescent sticklights to create intense colour blocks flooding the entire space with saturate light. By mixing primary red and zenith blue coloured light together, West demonstrates colour mixing in practice as the space is flooded with mauve and magenta. When the human eye focuses for a duration on either colour block, the complementary colour will be left on our retina as an afterimage when we turn away or close our eyes.
West creates vivid environments that mix luminous colour and radiant light. Reacting to the architectural space of Arcadecardiff, West has created a site-specific installation work which has transformed the room into an immersive and sensory experience. West aims to provoke a heightened sensory awareness in the viewer through her works. She is interested in exploring how sensory phenomena can invoke psychological and physical responses that tap into our own deeply entrenched relationships to colour.
“Light is a wonderfully diverse material,” West explains. “I enjoy working with it as has the power to completely transform space and become a physical and tangible entity for people to explore, feel and interact with” she says. “Saturate colour has the curious ability to conjure long forgotten memories and experiences. The meaning of each colour differs for each individual, making the exhibition a personal and sensory experience”. West added “My interest in creating intense environments using artificial lights comes from my own need to be surrounded by light to trigger feelings of wellbeing as I have Seasonal Affective Disorder.”
Liz West was the recipient of the Royal British Society of Sculptors Bursary Award in 2015 and is most widely known for her chromatic light installations which often take the form of immersive environments using the notions of colour theory and the science of light together to create optical and sensory experiences.
A special artists tour and talk will be held at Arcadecardiff where visitors can meet the artist and Liz West will discuss the exhibition and pracitce, the talk is at 12pm on Thursday 17th December and free to attend.
