The Launch of Brian Eno’s new art series, a fusion of ambience and light, seeks to converge multi-media and time…
“My music and videos do change, but they change slowly…”
Light Music is Brian Eno’s new exhibition of light works, pulling in with geometric precision the themes of vision and music that have long been present in Eno’s work. And then there’s time manipulation. Yes, manipulation – as the pairing of geometric shapes, canvasses for constantly revolving and merging pools of colour combine with music to challenge the viewer’s perception of time.
The Paul Stolper Gallery provides a lean space for the exhibit. Framed as a short journey from four simple geometrics, etched on graph paper through to wonderfully set, lenticular frames that put the emphasis on colour. The main space bears the climax of six light box installations, each backed by specially created compositions from Eno.
The effect is entirely different from walking into a large space of Rothko’s gigantic colourfields, still the most identifiable and powerful scopes in the art world, but Eno’s aim has a different scale. Everything is on a small scale, from the interwoven LEDs that opaquely move the light spectrum to the speakers accompanying each. But time escapes miniaturisation. None of the works have a beginning or end and do well to meet Eno’s intention that people should be encouraged “to stay in one place for a while”.
It’s slow drama unfolding in converging media. But perhaps the most interesting aspect is the reverse journey, working back through the common DNA of basic geometric patterns. While the space and time do vary, drifting back from the light to the movement of the lenticulars, it’s a different state of mind that meets the simple box designs and signed schematics that started the process as it heads back to reality.
Brian Eno: Light Music is on display at Paul Stolper, Museum Street, London, from 29 April – 28 May 2016
A series Inspired by Brian Eno’s Light Music
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