Unusual sculpture "Lunar" ("Moon") in the form of a luminous molecular compound

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Notable American artist Spencer Finch has presented one of his latest creations - the sculpture "Lunar" in the form of a glowing molecular compound. For the first time, this solar-powered buckyball was demonstrated by a master of lighting installations on the roof of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Spencer works at the intersection of several media, is interested in watercolors, photography, video recording and electronics. Finch is perhaps best known for his work with light installations, through which the artist seeks to explore the phenomena of perception and memory.

Finch was always interested in natural light, which could be observed in a certain place and at a certain time. The artist's special attention has always been focused on the mysterious moonlight. So, in July 2011, Finch set himself an unusual task - to recreate the light of the July moon over Chicago in artificial conditions. Using a colorimeter, a special measuring device, Finch measured the average color of the moonlight and its temperature, so that he could then accurately reproduce it.

This is how one of the most notable installations by Finch appeared - a luminous sculpture in the shape of a buckyball (a molecular compound in the form of convex closed polyhedrons). The unusual solar-powered aluminum and stainless steel construction was first unveiled on the roof of the Art Institute of Chicago in April 2012.

“I have always been attracted by night landscapes, and I was motivated by the impossibility of depicting such … twilight in twilight. Reasoning that enough images of the moon had been made, I began to speculate about moonlight, including that it is, in essence, reflected sunlight. So I figured out using solar panels to generate moonlight. I thought it would be fun to create a kind of lunar module with moonlight on board, which landed on the roof of the Chicago Institute."

Spencer Finch was born in 1962 in New Haven, Connecticut. He graduated cum laude from Hamilton College in 1985 with a BA in Literature. Four years later, Finch earned an MA in Fine Arts and Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design. The first retrospective of the artist's work, which ended in March 2008, was held at the Massachusetts Museum of Modern Art (MASS MoCA) in North Adams.

Speser Finch is productive and exhibits a lot. Here are just some of the artist's solo exhibitions: an exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana in 2013, an exhibition in 2007 at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, participation in the Folkestone Triennial ("Folkestone Triennial"), held in 2011 in the UK, as well as participation in the 53rd Venice Biennale (53rd Venice Biennale) in 2009. The artist currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.