Glowing review: Liz West’s Spectral Vision at the Natural History Museum
![immersive light work](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Z82pgs3WF7TvUkQNdtmkag-415-80.jpg)
Liz West has gone back to the basics of vision with her new light work at the Natural History Museum that explores our fundamental relationship with colour. Her dazzling installation has joined 350 historical specimens for the Museum's landmark exhibition, 'Colour and Vision'.
The British artist, who recently caught our eye with a stunning reflective work in a decomissioned church, intends Our Spectral Vision to be 'an immersive whack of bright colour' that sets the stage for the rest of the eye-popping show, where phosphorescent butterflies and bold-winged hummingbirds are preserved in stunning hues.
It was these examples of naturally occuring, otherwordly colours that inspired West's work, and she was allowed unique access into the Museum's archives during her research process. 'The iridescent patterns and colourings present on the birds, insects and animals in the Natural History Museum collection have inspired the variety and selection of colours in this artwork,' she explains. 'The science behind the natural processes of colour researched here at the Museum has provided the backbone for my work.'
As well as working closely with the Museum, West delved into the science history books, as she has been doing the last ten years. Much of her oeuvre is preoccupied with systems of vision, and she treats each new work as an experiment in light, inspired by the way Isaac Newton experimented with disassembling and reassembling white light into the visible colour spectrum.
Made from dichroic glass – a material that changes tone when it's moved – the work comprises seven, psychedelic vertical prisms that visitors are invited to interact with, watching the colours dance inside. With nights already lengthening over London, this exhibition is sure to brighten up autumn.
The installation is 'an immersive whack of bright colour' that sets the stage for the rest of the eye-popping show, where phosphorescent butterflies and bold-winged hummingbirds are preserved in stunning hues. Pictured: installation view
It was these examples of naturally occuring, otherwordly colours that inspired West's work, and she was allowed unique access into the Museum's archives during her research process. Pictured: installation view
'The iridescent patterns and colourings present on the birds, insects and animals in the Natural History Museum collection have inspired the variety and selection of colours in this artwork,' she explains. Pictured: installation view
Made from dichroic glass – a material that changes tone when it's moved – the work comprises seven, psychedelic vertical prisms that visitors are invited to interact with. Pictured: installation view
INFORMATION
’Colour and Vision’ continues until 6 November 2016. For more information, visit the Natural History Museum website
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Photography: © Hannah Devereux
Elly Parsons is the Digital Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees Wallpaper.com and its social platforms. She has been with the brand since 2015 in various roles, spending time as digital writer – specialising in art, technology and contemporary culture – and as deputy digital editor. She was shortlisted for a PPA Award in 2017, has written extensively for many publications, and has contributed to three books. She is a guest lecturer in digital journalism at Goldsmiths University, London, where she also holds a masters degree in creative writing. Now, her main areas of expertise include content strategy, audience engagement, and social media.
-
Commune’s sustainable personal care products look ‘quite unlike anything else’
Commune’s Somerset-made products stand out in the sustainable skincare crowd. Madeleine Rothery speaks with the brand’s co-founders Kate Neal and Rémi Paringaux
By Madeleine Rothery Published
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
‘Mental health, motherhood and class’: Hannah Perry’s dynamic installation at Baltic
Hannah Perry's exhibition ’Manual Labour’ is on show at Baltic in Gateshead, UK, a five-part installation drawing parallels between motherhood and factory work
By Emily Steer Published
-
Francis Alÿs plots child play around the world at the Barbican
In Francis Alÿs' exhibition ‘Ricochets’ at London’s Barbican, the artist explores the universality of play, even in challenging situations
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
At Glastonbury’s Shangri-La, activism and innovation meet
Glastonbury’s south-east corner is known for its after-dark entertainment but by day, there is a different story to tell
By Rhian Daly Published
-
‘I am almost an anti-sculptor’: Dominique White on her Whitechapel Max Mara Art Prize show
The artist mines the ocean to explore Afrofuturism in ‘Deadweight’, opening at London’s Whitechapel and detailed in a new film
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Remembering Rusty Egan's Blitz Club: a place to 'avoid the mob and the homophobes', where the New Romantics were born
As he releases new vinyl boxset, 'Blitzed!', Wallpaper* meets DJ Rusty Egan to talk about London's scene-building Blitz club – the antidote to the late 70s punk scene and a hot-bed of experimental fashion
By Craig McLean Published
-
Suzannah Pettigrew's 'tender and ghostly' new show at Surrealist photographer Lee Miller's former home in East Sussex
London-based artist Suzannah Pettigrew's photographic stills create a snapshot of her Sussex coast childhood, conjuring up a hallucinatory world of memory
By Mary Cleary Published
-
The body, pleasure and play: Beryl Cook and Tom of Finland united in London
Tom of Finland’s homoeroticism meets Beryl Cook’s female-oriented camp as Studio Voltaire unites work by the two artists in a London exhibition
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Zanele Muholi celebrates South Africa’s Black LGBTI communities in LA and London
Zanele Muholi's portraits and sculptures are currently on show at Southern Guild Los Angeles and the Tate Modern, London
By Hannah Silver Published