Cerith Wyn Evans, Tate Britain, Duveens Commission, March 2017
The Tate Britain Commission, which annually invites a contemporary British artist to ornament the institution’s neoclassical Duveen Galleries, features an installation this year by Welsh-born Cerith Wyn Evans. The exhibition, titled ‘Forms in Space… By Light (in Time)’ is a stunning light installation by the contemporary artist. On view from March 28 to August 20, the installation is sure to brighten your day.
Born in Wales in 1958, the son of a photographer and painter, Wyn Evans studied at St Martins and The Royal College of Art. He started as a filmmaker, producing his own experimental films, and also served as an assistant to director Derek Jarman for “The Angelic Conversation” (1985), “Caravaggio” (1986), and “The Last of England” (1987). In 1988, his short film “Degrees of Blindness” starred Tilda Swinton, a frequent actress for Jarman.
For the 2017 edition, Cerith Wyn Evans’s “Forms in Space… by Light (in Time)” is a formidable maze of elevated luminous elements. Deemed a kind of “drawing in space,” the ceiling-suspended sculpture is made from almost two kilometers of neon lighting. The spiraling forms commence from a neon ring before morphing into a collection of discs. The intricate structure was inspired by Japanese Noh theater and is evocative of a “celestial map,” playing with the viewer’s perspective. Guests are strongly recommended to walk under what seems as an optically confusing mass of light in order to marvel and understand the form of the installation.
Alex Farquharson, the Director of Tate Britain, praised the artist for “the rich world of poetic ideas that informs his projects,” and for creating “light on a challenging scale.”
Cerith Wyn Evans’s interest in text and perception has expanded his practice across varied media. His series of chandelier sculptures — some modern and minimalist, others Italian Murano glass antiques — invest a symbol of material wealth with coded flickers of light and shadow. Wyn Evans has also collaborated on an art project with the band Throbbing Gristle, and was featured in Juergen Teller’s ad campaign for the label Marc Jacobs in 2011.
Alongside this exhibition, he has just opened a solo show at Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich. He will participate in the forthcoming Venice Biennale, which he has participated in previously, notably in 2009 for a collaboration with Florian Hecker and Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary on the opera project “No night No day.”
The Tate Britain Commission has previously extended invitations to Pablo Bronstein (2016), Christina Mackie (2015), Phyllida Barlow (2014), Simon Starling (2013), Patrick Keiller (2012), Fiona Banner (2010), Eva Rothschild (2009), Martin Creed (2008), Mark Wallinger (2007), Michael Landy (2004), Anya Gallaccio (2002), and Mona Hatoum (2000).
For more information do visit Tate Britain.
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