ANTHONY MCCALL: SOLID LIGHT WORKS

 PROJECTION

Last week we attended the opening evening of the 'Anthony McCall: Solid Light Works' exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield. After an introductory talk by the artist, we entered a dark room filled with 'mist' and waited in anticipation for the projector to start. After the appearance of of a thin speck of light, we waited patiently, watching the light grow in a circular direction. As the line grew, the mist within the room became illuminated and the longer we watched, the more of it appeared for us to see.

HUMAN INTERACTION

The mist moved in ways which made it seem like a living being. We stood mesmerised by the movement and light. It took a while, but after one person dared to break the beam of light with their hand, more and more moved to interact with the expanding tunnel which was starting to form. Interestingly, people competed to capture the best moments on camera (very difficult in a dark mist filled room!) but I did conform to this behaviour as the movement of the light created an urgency to record each moment, before it was too late, when the projection ended.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS

One of my favourite bits of the exhibition was to see the artists sketchbooks, drawings and maquettes. I love to see the creative process drawn out on paper with annotations, amendments and dimensions and then consider these alongside the actual installation. You could clearly see the artists journey from lines on paper to lines with light and it was magical to see how a simple line can be transformed into a thing of interaction and inclusiveness.

The exhibition is on from 16th February to 3rd June 2018. For further information on the artist, visit his website here.