Azerbaijani artist Rashad Alakbarov uses the shadows & reflections created by ordinary household & decorative objects to orchestrate fantastically detailed cityscapes.
Painting with light, Alakbarov's precise arrangements of translucent objects, suspended & backlit, create meticulously choreographed landscapes & portraits.
Sanford Biggers' installation, The Cartographer's Conundrum, now on view at Mass MoCA, uses translucence & light to a different effect.
Inspired by the art of his late cousin John Biggers & Afro-futurism, Sanford Bigger's piece incorporates different elements to create a rich & complex dialogue: a mystical mural by the elder Biggers, floor tiles arranged as reference to the sacred geometry upheld in African & Egyptian societies, musical instruments, & reflective & translucent objects. The ever-shifting light that bounces off mirrored stars strewn about the room & streams through colorful "stained glass" window panels, & through church pews which become luminously hued & translucent as they lift off the ground & lay swaths of color on the floor, gives one the transcendent feeling of having stepped into an other-wordly cathedral dedicated to a rich & many-faceted history.
We attended Biggers' opening at the museum, arriving early enough to sit & take in the changing light as the sun slowly set, taking photos of the room as it slowly filled with guests & patrons.
According to Biggers:
The thing about it is, the way this is set up, different things happen during different weather conditions, so you’ll never see the same show twice. You know, the reflections, the shadows, the light, the pacing of all of that changes daily.
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