Lite Brite: Not Just For Kids

As you step off the elevator into the Barbara Krakow Gallery, a bright light fills the room. But while it is impossible not notice the green glow that illuminates the current exhibit, New Light Works by Cameron Shaw, it takes a while to realize that this is actually one of the pieces in the show. In fact, it makes up one fifth of the works in the exhibit right now. It is a risk to have such a small number of artworks in a show like this; they all have to be captivating and original to make it successful. Unfortunately, Shaw’s work is not dynamic enough to warrant such a small exhibit.

Though he uses a variety of mediums in this show, Shaw’s main tool is light. This is the running theme of the exhibit and the reason why all of his creations have power cords hanging out of them. Shaw works in mostly primary colors and basic shapes and while the result is fine, it is far from stunning. Just as it is easy to miss the fifth work in the show as you are walking into the gallery, it is easy to forget about it as you are walking out. But his “Green Lantern,” made out of fluorescent lights and cintra, a material that has a woody quality, is possibly the most interesting piece in the show. This cylindrical object runs from floor to ceiling and has both texture and body. It makes its presence known throughout the show.

The first three pieces in the show are Ilfachrome light boxes—silver box frames with an inner light projector that illuminate a photograph. In each of the pieces, the picture that the box frames has a black background and a burst of color. The names are simplistic and self explanatory: “Etherea Red”, “Etherea Blue” and “Etherea Yellow,” and all three portray images that resemble basic shapes found in nature.

The red piece seems to be a flower with many petals. The blue, a close look at a snowflake and the yellow, a sunburst. None of these images is crisp around the edges—they all seem to fade into the black. The effect of this is that the images acquire movement. This is one of the few techniques Shaw uses that gives his work some intrigue. The snowflake appears to shrink as you look at it. The sun, whose edges are trimmed with orange, looks like it is fluttering. The way Shaw uses color and shading in these works is highly effective, as well. In “Etherea Blue” he uses flecks of white within the blue image to make this flat image seem to expand into its box. But while these techniques were effective, they were the highlight of the show.

The fourth piece in “New Light Works” had the promise of being the most original and the most interesting. But while the idea had potential, its execution was far from special. The intention was to create light blossoms. In fact, the work is entitled “Wall of Blooms (Blue, Green, Yellow, Red).” The “blooms” are created using small light bulbs of varying colors placed in the center of a mirrored chamber. The blossoms are then installed in the wall. The end result is a flat wall surface with six squares arranged on it, each square containing a blossom.

But “Walls of Blooms” fell short of expectations, as well. Perhaps the gallery itself had something to do with all of the exhibit’s shortcomings. While “Walls of Bloom” was prominently displayed on its own wall in the gallery, the wall was not quite clean and the ceiling was cut by track lighting. A fresh coat of paint on the walls and a covering on the ceiling would have dramatically improved all of the artwork. “Walls of Bloom” would have been more effective had the placement of the blossoms been arranged so you could not see your shoes reflecting in the mirrors. These details, while small, would have made a difference to this exhibit.

The real problem with this show, however, was the art itself. Or more accurately, it was the lack of art. When using simple colors and simple shapes to create art, as Shaw does in this exhibit, there has to be a lot of it. If Shaw was going to use the shapes and colors used by children, he should have remembered the learning technique most often employed by them as well: repetition. An entire gallery of simple lighted creations would have been stunning. New Light Works was not. The individual creations, especially the light boxes, had some merit individually, but they lose much of their merit when they are lumped together like this.

New Light works

By

Cameron shaw

Barbara Krakow Gallery

Oct. 20 to

Nov. 28