7 minute read
Surrogate Nature
Light Artist Adela Andea in Conversation with Staff Writer Parker Allen
In pursuit of new discoveries, Midnight Zone(s) is based on fictional oceanscapes and creatures, a reinterpretation of nature that allows imagination to flourish. The title refers to a layer in the ocean which is lightless, under high pressure, between 3,000 and 10,000 feet deep. The most bizarre and fascinating creatures have adapted to survive under those conditions. Oceans are the most beautiful and, at the same time, the most terrifying unexplored places. Underwater bioluminescence phenomena continue to be an inspiration for the artworks illuminated from the inside and outside.
Q: Tell me about your background. When did you begin creating art?
A: My usage of light as a medium, with a lot of bright colors, provides a personal psychoanalytical perspective – that of my childhood and adolescence in Romania. It is a reaction to the harshest years of communism. The standard of living was well below any technological progress claimed by the system. We didn’t have electrical power or enough heat in the apartments.
I was born in Romania in 1976. At the age of 13, I was a direct witness to the bloody Romanian Revolution of 1989, which started in my hometown and ended with the overthrow of the totalitarian regime in Romania. All the bright lights and colors represent my new-found optimism and personal growth out of the darkest time of my life. Considering how my career turned to light installation art, I think my appreciation for light started then.
Q: Tell me about your journey as an artist and how you began using light as a medium.
A: I began as a painter. I always wanted always to paint - that was my dream. I got into the painting program at University of Houston, and I slowly moved to sculpture. At that point, I was making art objects - I didn't call them sculptures. I was painting them the same way I would a painting. The objects were becoming more three-dimensional, but I was a little frustrated with the medium because it was never bright enough. It was missing something.
That's when I went to the source. You cannot enjoy a painting, drawing, or sculpture without having light. I also studied art history, and I began looking into what happened in the light movement. I was already familiar with some of the well-known light artists. But, I thought, “I need to bring something new.” What is new? I looked at the computer industry, and that was when I had a breakthrough using light. If you look at the computer, there is a CCFL light inside. In a way, I made the computer “explode" instead of containing it in a box.
The other issue that I was concerned with was consumption. Society moves forward, and many new technologies consume less energy. This is in contrast with nature, because we are destroying nature using too much technology. I said, “No, you marry both of them.”
My work also reflects on the culture of consumerism by introducing materials that serve as examples of ways to improve the environment by consuming less energy. The installations created with these materials provide new types of environments, visually imitating nature, thus transplanting the idea of nature into a new artificial form.
I am not a painter. I am not a sculptor, so what am I? I am an installation artist. Basically, installation art is not something like a sculpture you walk around – you are inside the art itself. A fantastic aspect of the installations is that they are constrained by the space – either you are in a traditional white cube gallery or a historical building like the Center for International Light Art in Germany.
I visualize the installation through the challenges of the space – the more interesting the building, the better the installation. I have to be physically present, and sometimes I work in the space 12-16 hours a day. I spend anywhere from one to six weeks on an installation, working without interruption, because finding the creative moments takes time. I have to feel the space and the flow of the future audience in order to create a truly immersive installation. The main units of the installation are created in advance (months and years of work on some), and then they get transported to the location. However, interconnecting the units and arranging them to create a certain flow takes longer than hanging an exhibition. Most art spaces offer 5-7 days because of business constraints. Finding the privacy to create in a public space is the biggest challenge of my big installations.
Q: Where do you find inspiration?
A: I do rely on nature, but I am embracing the idea of a surrogate nature. My installations rely on a reinterpretation of nature that allows imagination to flourish. A lot of the materials and the forms that I started to use look like something underwater. The bioluminescence phenomenon. I created a large installation, based on that, made with pool noodles. I thought, “I'll make one show on it.” And, ten years later, I have many variations of it, and the installations have grown larger and larger.
That's how I arrived basically to the medium of light. I did get my Masters of Fine Arts at University of North Texas. When I enrolled, they accepted me in sculpture. I was one year into the sculpture program, and I was ready to pack my bags. I said, “I'm not a sculptor. That's not what I want to do.” I want to work with light. I'm an installation artist. The new media department had just started at the master's level. I transferred there, and I was one of the first to graduate in the new media studio arts. It was the right place at the right time. I was doing the type of work that the new media department was looking to convey. You have to bring that virtual world into the physical world and have the audience experience that, feel that environment.
If our readers wanted to stay tuned, where would be the best way for them to find information about you?
My website and social media are the best places to keep up with my work. You can also find my work in the galleries where I exhibit:
One of Andea’s early full room installations, Green Cyber Web focuses on the necessity of progress while preserving our environment through the use of energy efficient technologies. The installation required specialized engineering – the use of computer parts and power sources is meant to suggest the latest computer technologies presented from the inside out in the space of the viewers, multiplied and fragmented in the space of the gallery.
Chaos Exstructa is an interdimensional space through which future technological chaos seeps into our reality. The installation contains an abundance of light energy that infuses in all directions, bouncing electronic elements into the surfaces of the historical architecture of the museum. A mélange of geometrical and organic elements hint at the true definition of chaos. Andea’s installations use a unique visual vocabulary and rely on the reinterpretation of our current perception of nature seen through the eyes of new media art using the latest technologies.
