Mary Temple’s Light Installations Series Questions The Viewers Preconceptions
Mary Temple‘s Light Installations series are not quite what they seem. What you’re looking at is not a shadow - on the wall and floor – rather it is the redefinition of a space. What Temple does is create silhouettes of natural landscapes, plants, and trees in a space which not only give a realistic rendition of light flowing in from a window but fill the indoor environment with outdoor elements. This process gives the impression of a shadow being cast from a window and forces viewers to question what they’re actually looking at.
Here’s what she says about her Light Installation series:
In the site-specific series Light Installations, light and shadow from nearby windows seem to be raking the walls of the gallery. The illusion, however, is a hand-painted trompe l’oeil shard, often situated in rooms with little or no natural light. In this work I rely on the viewers knowledge and memory of light intersecting space to raise questions of belief and doubt. These pieces are meant to give the viewer time to enjoy not-knowing, and to privilege questions over answers. By puzzling the physical senses (setting up the viewer to fail at identifying something as elemental as light), these paintings celebrate the pleasure of trying to understand those things just outside the grasp of physical intelligence.
I’ve included a video of one of her pieces called ‘Northwest Corner, Southeast Light’ in which she explains her process and work.
Via My Modern Met
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