Published on: August 10, 2011

Light Art installations by Heather Lewis presented in this article play with extraordinary reflections from ordinary objects.

They use objects such as mirrors, ladders and various kitchen objects which together with light, create interesting patterns and shadows in the space.

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The “Pay-per-view” light installation is first seen in its “free” configuration. Mirror tiles on the floor create a series of geometric reflections on a corner wall space. Closer inspection reveals that the scribbly tic-tac-toe lines are produced by the beveled edges.

Nearby, a coin meter invites visitors to pay twenty-five cents to experience the installation more fully. As the coin drops into the meter, overhead spotlights come on and the reflections leap up the walls.

Ordinary products and commercial equipment have created an arguably useless but curiously magical occurrence.

Heather Lewis’s exhibition for The Green Shadow consists of light installations and non-traditional artworks, all described as drawings. The premise is that a stenciled image (like a shadow) can be seen as a drawing according to certain traditional criteria : it translates three dimensional information into two dimensional format, and it does so using value, edges and perspective relative to a fixed viewpoint.  Within these parameters the artist demonstrates that the concepts of stenciling and design (staples of industrial production) bring exciting new possibilities to drawing.

The 17 artworks in approximately 1100 sq ft of gallery space take the viewer through a series of proposals.  “Pay-per-view” and “Thirty one hand shaped circles” are drawings formed by light reflected from mirrors. They are created and destroyed by electrical current, and their graphic elements are separated from and distorted by their supporting surface, making them infinitely scalable.

“Objects from a kitchen drawer” – a projected shadow taking up a whole wall – is a drawing that occurs in real time, rather than being a record of past events. Gallery visitors slowly realize that a large shadow of a ladder has no light source but is actually painted on the wall.  This shadow is a visibly accurate drawing of the object (and includes recognizable elements of perspective) but is not an illusion of the object.

This work springs from a fascination with deskilled process. As a concept, deskilling is central to contemporary consumer culture but it also has implications and potential beyond its current commercial framework, reinforcing the notion that the goals and values used to direct technology are the key to change.

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