Art Hag

Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson currently has his sixth solo show with Tanya Bonakdar Gallery on view. Eliasson (born in Copenhagen in 1967) continues "his exploration of and experimentation with modes of perception and the experience of space and time. Focusing on movement, color, and light - and the interplay between the three phenomena..." (from the show's press release) the artist allows viewers to interact with and even activate his work.

Multiple shadow house (2010), the centerpiece of the show, is a large structure consisting of various rooms built from "a simple wooden framework supporting large expanses of projection screens... projection lamps cast steady light upon the screens, yet their effects remain unarticulated until visitors interact with the structure." Standing, walking, moving in front of the lamps casts lovely, rainbowy, trippy shadows on to the white screens - letting the viewer "negotiate[s] and construct[s] his or her own surroundings," and allowing the "architecture [to be] animated by the visitor."

Upstairs in the side gallery is Intangible afterimage star (2008) consisting of six colored spotlights "synced to project geometrical forms in blue, yellow, magenta, green, and turquoise on to the wall, intersecting and layering, and building" up to a "Constructivist abstraction" within four minutes. By focusing your eyes on a silver ball in the center of the wall where the colorful geometric shapes slowly fade in and out, "complimentary afterimages stay on the visitor's retina and appear to multiply the color compositions." I didn't get this nifty effect (which likely would have left me disconcerted and stumbling into things) probably because I watched primarily through my iPhone. In the upstairs main gallery is a series of lovely watercolor drawings on paper featuring sequences of circles and ellipses Eliasson created as "exercises on the perception of space and movement." These images are a part of Studio Olafur Eliasson's research and development of "handmade oil paints that range through the full spectrum of visible light, experimenting with their physical properties and interactions."

Eliasson clearly takes color and light very seriously, but fortunately for us, he creates fun, intelligent, interactive works for us to enjoy. Learn more at Tanyabonakdargallery.com and check out the artist's website at Olafureliasson.net. Through March 20th.

Multiple shadow house, 2010