LEN LYE
Obvious enough, Len Lye is my biggest inspiration for my work.
"He wanted to affect people physically and emotionally, so that art became a full body experience. Whether this was with flashing, dancing cinematography, or thunderous, oscillating metallic sculptures, his work stimulated the senses and was unforgettable. " - This quote I really like because when making my work, I also aim for my machine not only to have a visually appealing work but also aim to provide somewhat of a body experience.
Len Lye´s at the IKON Gallery - Birmingham, Len Lye´s at the IKON Gallery - Birmingham, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE1CRjJxakQ&t=195s.
"Lye was liberal and open-minded, reflected in his work by the many dualities of male/female, machine/organic, and most importantly, old/new. He developed an understanding of the ‘old brain’, primitive knowledge stored in our DNA as a counterpart to the modern, ‘new brain’ intellect. It was a heady mix, full of contrast and contradiction," - Another quote I found very interesting especially the dualities of Machine/Organic (How my sculptures are pretty much machine replacing organic human bodies to be able to choreograph a dance.) and Old/New. (This relates to my work how I am tackling a an very traditional and older method that is choreographing and utilizing new technology such as coding and programming to be able to choreograph and dance.
Len Lye's Homecoming (Christchurch City Art Gallery, 2017), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEd72uamf0o.
What I truly admire about Lye’s Sculpture is truly how simple yet streamlined they are. When operating, they possess dynamics that can be compared with dance - they are rather mesmerizing, rhythmic and hypnotic, even though at times it can also be anxiety inducing. Another quality I admire about his Kinetic works is how they are able to create tension through the movements, he does this by varying the speed of the movements his works create. The slower the movement the more calm they feel, the faster the movement, the more chaotic they appear almost to the point where the sculptures feel like they are about to self-destruct - they never truly reach that point. These tension build-up changes in speed are intended - I would even say that they are all choreographed and part of the work.
Just like my works, his works relate to dance by having movement as the main drive; his sculptures resemble dance figures. His limited selection of materials also ensures that movement is the most evident aspect of his work. When the machines start to perform, the aim is for the structures to become almost imperceptible, drawing all the attention to the motion and emerging patterns which appear as movement blurs into form. Thus, the mesmerising ‘image’ become the performer, the star of the show
sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU0bF1vCro4
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/dec/12/len-lye-body-electric-review
