Art Basel Miami Beach - Art Positions - Nathaniel Rackowe - Black Shed (Expanded)
2-14 December 2009
Art Basel Miami Beach
Wednesday, December 2: Vernissage, open to the public, from 6 to 10 p.m.
Thursday, December 3 to Sunday, December 6, 2009:
Daily from 12 to 8 p.m.
Sunday, December 6, from 12 to 6 p.m.
The black bitumen painted shed is suspended from a network of scaffolding that surrounds it, distorting the central aspect of the piece. This formation of aluminum scaffolding poles imparts an acknowledgement of its use as a preliminary tool towards creating an architectural vision.
Each surface of the shed is lined on its innermost face with an array of fluorescent lights, in contrast to its black shell. The light that spills out through the gaps between the surfaces of the shed describes its luminous territory, the shadows cast by the scaffolding throw a grid on the surrounding walls that mark, divide and quantify the space.
At the heart of the structure, hovering within this inverted sun, is a large suspended light bulb. Black Shed simultaneously instigates a choreography between the fluorescent lights and core light. Rendering an ebbing and glowing effect throughout the piece- with a cool, numbing light replaced by a warm, enveloping glow.
City landscapes, urban development and suburban chaos have established a relative dominance in Rackowe's work. Boundaries expand into openings, forcing their way with a manipulation of light through space. Control is wrestled from the viewer as the work shifts its spacial surroundings, plunging us in to a sensation of welcome and threat. Day and night, know and unknown.
Wednesday, December 2: Vernissage, open to the public, from 6 to 10 p.m.
Thursday, December 3 to Sunday, December 6, 2009:
Daily from 12 to 8 p.m.
Sunday, December 6, from 12 to 6 p.m.
The black bitumen painted shed is suspended from a network of scaffolding that surrounds it, distorting the central aspect of the piece. This formation of aluminum scaffolding poles imparts an acknowledgement of its use as a preliminary tool towards creating an architectural vision.
Each surface of the shed is lined on its innermost face with an array of fluorescent lights, in contrast to its black shell. The light that spills out through the gaps between the surfaces of the shed describes its luminous territory, the shadows cast by the scaffolding throw a grid on the surrounding walls that mark, divide and quantify the space.
At the heart of the structure, hovering within this inverted sun, is a large suspended light bulb. Black Shed simultaneously instigates a choreography between the fluorescent lights and core light. Rendering an ebbing and glowing effect throughout the piece- with a cool, numbing light replaced by a warm, enveloping glow.
City landscapes, urban development and suburban chaos have established a relative dominance in Rackowe's work. Boundaries expand into openings, forcing their way with a manipulation of light through space. Control is wrestled from the viewer as the work shifts its spacial surroundings, plunging us in to a sensation of welcome and threat. Day and night, know and unknown.
