Heaven Earth

"Inspired by traditional carved ceilings, Heaven Earth is a reinterpretation focused on the notion of a collapsing pattern. The base grid chosen utilizes hexagonal geometry in reference to the religious and philosophical symbolism of the hexagon relating to perfection and heaven. This base grid sets up a pattern varying in scale from the sides toward the center where a deformation in plane pulls the surrounding polygons out of their ideal state and into a number of irregular versions hung by fishing line. The tip of the deformation focuses at the center of the piece where a 6 pointed flower element is placed. The driving intention behind the piece plays with the power of perspective to change how we read a pattern. From a side angle the work is read as a chaotic blend of geometry, but as one approaches the center the unity of the whole becomes apparent. This tension between chaos and unity is what drives the work and is reflected by the title, “Heaven Earth”; highlighting the struggle involved in translating the ideal or abstract (heaven) to the real or physical (earth). The concept of abstract versus physical is also reflected in the hanging method used. As opposed to building the elements as perfectly aligned volumes, hanging them by string allows for the presence of the hand to be felt; 250 unique pieces each hung by 4 different length strings and placed by hand. The effect is further emphasized by offsetting the height of each element from those adjacent to it so that again unity can only be fully observed by finding the point in which it reveals itself. The lighting method builds on the base pattern and adds a sense of order through a set of alternating acrylic and wooden panels. Though the acrylic elements are where we perceive the light, it is the wooden panels which emit it through a series of distributed LED units. The light emitted is reflected off a central area above the hanging elements which is painted white. This reflection combined with the method of hanging is a key strategy to distributing the light within the piece and redirecting it through the acrylic in such a way as to create unique moments of illumination. "