by Jania Vanderwerff
Since the beginnings of time, humanity has been drawn to light.
Spoken to our soul, the shadows, the glow, the stirring and kindling of Spirit.
Connecting our own specific, unique, needs for community.
Artists have often explored the subject.
From painters like Rembrandt to installation artists such as James Turrell, they have translated it for us.
This current show at the Williamsburg Art and Historical center, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, continues this.
What was created independently & quietly in the studio is now being presented in a fascinating group show.
This work transforms the viewer into seeing a new way of looking at these powerful subjects of technology, form, and light.
In the darkened space of the non-profit WAH center, small circles of light projected from above allowed the visual conversation of the work to share its own pleasing volume.
Cornelia Jensen has cleverly transformed various shapes of found objects into an architectural, metropolitan fairyland.
Imaginary pools, courtyards and private spaces become portals reaching beyond.
All structures perfectly charmed with carefully interspersed light. The hard edges whimsically softened as no frills Styrofoam surrenders from its intended use to become the playground for the imagination.
Nearby, the viewer is invited and welcomed to the fireside, for the sensory telling of a beautiful story.
Futuristically suspended from a tower like structure, a softly expressive vibration influenced the gentle movement of water.
Takafumi Ide’s illuminated and muted dialog recorded between himself and his Grandmother, held the warmth and magic of a great narrative passed on from generation to generation.
In the center of the room on a grander scale, CHIKA allows the viewer to contribute to the show with each subtle gesture of their hand.
Bright flashes of light combined with sound manipulated by individual movements, reveal a hidden energy of technology, form, and light.
The intensity of the composition conducted by the viewer’s hand creates their personal response in a public yet private moment.
Across the room a humble paper cup lays on a small shelf. A thin wire inside attached to a demure bulb roughly the length of a centimeter, emits a pulse.
It recalls the childhood game of “telephone” played with two paper cups and a string amped up with an even deeper meaning.
Using technology to make visible the unseen, Takafumi Ide allows us to experience the unbroken connection he has with his mother while he is here in the Unites States and she was in hospital located in Japan.
We all share the same stars under the sky; using a form like a paper cup, a wire, and a tiny bulb, Ide offers us an appreciation of even a basic form of technology and reminding us of our need for community.
In the small gallery, viewers consider light’s playful interchange with toy marbles.
Sunil Garg has combined the small glass spheres and light with the movement of air, transferring their colors onto apparitions of floating wire sculpture forms.
Ignoring my own physicality, I laid on the floor and let myself be absorbed in the atmospheric dance.
In my thoughts, I was a child lying in the grass looking up at the clouds and I was better for the opportunity.
Non-profits are often underserved by the media,
Curating programs for their viewers without notice.
Historically artists will continue to create, often in obscurity.
However, when a significant show goes unnoticed it is the public who is cheated from an experiential wonder.
There is an undeniable distinction between not-for and for-profit organizations.
Although necessary, the for-profit’s view of the idea of commodity often obscures how the public will see the work… or if they will see the work at all.
Snow sometimes falls in the night while no one is looking.
Non-profits often gift us with a new way to see and can help an artist leave their own fresh footprint.
There are more secrets on display by the participating talented Artists.
This pioneering presentation at the Williamsburg Art and Historical center
135 Broadway
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 11211
will be up until April 23, 2016.
Hours: Friday, Saturday, Sunday
12:00 – 6:00 pm
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