What you are looking at are sculptures made of 99.9% pure titanium, brass and stainless steel with a dash of chrome plating, but the essence of the object, the heart of the art, is light. The colors on the surface of the titanium are created by wavelength interference. With a torch, or voltage in an electrolytic bath, I form a layer of a clear oxide on the surface of the metal that is 30 to 55 nanometers thick or roughly .0000016 inches thick. Light bounces off the surface of the oxide layer and light bounces off the surface of the metal and this millionths of an inch differential creates a spectrum of color determined by the thickness of the film. There is no pigment or paint or dye. The color is pure light. Paint produces color through the absorption of particular frequencies. What you are seeing is exactly the same as the spectral color of a blue morpho butterfly's wings or a soap bubble, the iridescence of a hummingbird's livery or the liquid spectrum of an oil film on wet pavement. The low cone shape of the bowl is designed to make this microscopic film generate a shifting range of different colors depending on where the viewer stands. This bowl of light can appear blue or green or violet all at once. Or pink and yellow or gold or silver. The fierce purple overlaid on an electric yellow is purely light manipulation. This is physics at work. If you could see this object in a darkened room, it would be gray. These sculptures make the ephemeral permanent. The sculpture is not the piece of metal. It is the movement of light.
We have named this project "Cosmic Debris”, and each sculpture is numbered, photographed and will be documented thoroughly with a book. They are all one of a kind. They are physically impossible to reproduce. Like you.
Bowls exist to hold "things" or, in some cases, to create sound. These bowls exist to push light.
These are one of a kind pieces of sculptural art work. They can not be reproduced. Each piece is signed and numbered with the date.
Cosmic Debris #51 - 23” Light Bowl
What you are looking at are sculptures made of 99.9% pure titanium, brass and stainless steel with a dash of chrome plating, but the essence of the object, the heart of the art, is light. The colors on the surface of the titanium are created by wavelength interference. With a torch, or voltage in an electrolytic bath, I form a layer of a clear oxide on the surface of the metal that is 30 to 55 nanometers thick or roughly .0000016 inches thick. Light bounces off the surface of the oxide layer and light bounces off the surface of the metal and this millionths of an inch differential creates a spectrum of color determined by the thickness of the film. There is no pigment or paint or dye. The color is pure light. Paint produces color through the absorption of particular frequencies. What you are seeing is exactly the same as the spectral color of a blue morpho butterfly's wings or a soap bubble, the iridescence of a hummingbird's livery or the liquid spectrum of an oil film on wet pavement. The low cone shape of the bowl is designed to make this microscopic film generate a shifting range of different colors depending on where the viewer stands. This bowl of light can appear blue or green or violet all at once. Or pink and yellow or gold or silver. The fierce purple overlaid on an electric yellow is purely light manipulation. This is physics at work. If you could see this object in a darkened room, it would be gray. These sculptures make the ephemeral permanent. The sculpture is not the piece of metal. It is the movement of light.
We have named this project "Cosmic Debris”, and each sculpture is numbered, photographed and will be documented thoroughly with a book. They are all one of a kind. They are physically impossible to reproduce. Like you.
Bowls exist to hold "things" or, in some cases, to create sound. These bowls exist to push light.
These are one of a kind pieces of sculptural art work. They can not be reproduced. Each piece is signed and numbered with the date.
Cosmic Debris #51 - 23” Light Bowl
