The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Illuminating art is coming to Wright State

By Don Thrasher, Contributing Writer 5:08 PM Thursday, September 17, 2009

Most people look at a light-emitting diode (LED) and see an item of pure function. When faced with the same item, visual artist Erwin Redl sees endless possibilities.

Since the late 1990s, the internationally renowned visual artist from Austria, has been mounting site-specific installations featuring large-scale pieces utilizing fiber optics and computer-controlled LEDs. His latest work, “Line Fade,” is on display in Wright State University’s Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries through Oct. 18.

“The Dayton project is a completely brand-new piece,” Redl said in a recent telephone interview. “I’m using new technology too, so I’m very excited about it. The space at Wright State University goes over two floors and people can see from downstairs and from the gallery upstairs.

“You can actually experience the installation in a three-dimensional sense,” he continued. “You’re not just walking around a flat surface, but you’re also walking up and down. It will be a completely dark room so you can do much more than you can do in a mixed light environment.”

A version of Redl’s piece ‘‘Speed Shift’’ was featured at the Cleveland Ingenuity Festival earlier this year, and he has been living in Bowling Green since December 2007, but the Wright State exhibition is his first major solo show in the Buckeye State.

“Redl is a very big name,” said Tess Cortés, gallery coordinator for WSU’s Stein Galleries. “He’s from Europe so he’s a little more well-known there, but he’s definitely making a name for himself here in the states. He was part of the Whitney Biennial in 2002 and since then his primary work has been commercial and private installations in businesses, hotels and commercial spaces.”

Redl has permanent pieces installed at Centennial Towers in San Francisco, the Shirlington Public Library in Arlington, Va., and the Skinker subway station in St. Louis and in two private residences in New York. He has done solo exhibitions in spots around the globe, from Krems, Austria, and Munich, Germany to Paddington, Australia, and Winnipeg, Canada, so landing the artist was a big deal for Wright State.

“Redl only recently began doing the university circuit and doing more public installations and pieces specifically for education and exhibition,” Cortes said. “We’re very happy to actually be the first venue for that type of exhibition here in Ohio.”

The show, sponsored by the Dayton Power & Light Foundation, was curated by Stefan Chinov, associate professor of art and art history at WSU.

“This show comes at a moment when everything that it will incorporate, from new aesthetics to low-energy light sources, is loaded with a great significance,” Chinov said. “While engaging cutting-edge tendencies in art and technology, including computerized installations and energy saving materials, Redl’s work allows for a direct and lucid interaction.”

Like the minimalist approach to his art pieces, Redl uses simple terminology such as “Matrix,” “Fade,” “Speed Shift” and “Line Fade” when naming his work.

“All my titles are basically naming the most important aspect of that particular piece or series of pieces,” Redl said. “Some artists use big metaphors, but I try to keep that level very pure so people can use their own reflection within that piece to get their own ideas. If I label the piece something very specific like, I don’t know, ‘My Mother’s Broken Toe,’ everybody would think of his or her mother’s broken toe when they see the piece.

“If I just call it ‘Line Fade,’ they think about something else and for me that’s important,” he continued. “I think of my pieces as more of a mirror. I provide a very abstract surface, or a structured surface, and then the specifics are getting filled in by the people that actually look at it and it might be completely different things.”

For Cortes, the interactive component was a big draw.

“What’s really cool about it is it’s going to be an experience,” she said. “I love that it’s not just going to be people walking around the lobby looking at something. He’s got it programmed so the light gradually changes color in a two-and-a-half minute cycle so they’re going to actually experience the installation changing. ... I think people are really going to like it.”

Contact contributing arts and music writer Don Thrasher at donaldthrasher8@aol.com.

Share this article