I was recently asked to participate in a one-night art exhibition in Charlottesville, Virginia called
Let There Be Light. All of the pieces had to involve light and would only be set up for a few hours outdoors at night. I decided I would make a piece involving blacklight and set out to build a series of small wooden frames, painted a fluorescent color, that when aligned would form a rudimentary skull image.
The night came and I drove down to Charlottesville with my pieces and quickly discovered the ground I planned to work on was both uneven and frozen solid. After trying one location that was too steep I moved to another and then discovered that the ground was so hard that the bamboo stakes I had attached to my piece to allow it to stand upright quickly split and I resorted to having to duct tape it together and use rocks to help keep it standing!
Because it took longer to install than I expected I never got to take photos of it before the sun set. So this morning, when I discovered the lovely snow that had fallen all night I was reminded of
my fun afternoon in the snow last year with my friend Paul and was inspired to go and document the piece in the back yard. Even though it's the inverse of seeing it at night, it still has a similar effect glowing in the overcast sunlight against the snow.
Here's a side view so you can see how it was set up...
And here are a couple images from the night of the original installation so you can get a sense of the black light effect with and without flash...
The artist with his signed work.
