Audio By Carbonatix
Local light artist Collin Parson has been stepping into the limelight with hip-to-be-square works like his recent “Square Variations,” featuring illuminated geometric shapes and patterns of straight lines that create visual echoes of the boxes containing them. But this month, he says, he’s rounding a corner.
“I’ve always been influenced by astronomy and the science behind it — not just light, but what else is out there in the solar system and why it all spins such dizzy circles,” Parson says of the work in his new solo show at Pirate: Contemporary Art. “It just finally felt right to start doing these circles and ellipses. It’s ever-evolving.”
Parson’s artistic evolution follows some changes in his artistic process: The jump from hand-cutting all of his materials to employing computer numeric code (CNC) machines has opened up new possibilities for increasingly complex work and a deviation from the confines of the straight lines that had been his signature. The result? Mesmerizing, immersive works that are hard to walk away from. “The average person in a gallery looks at a piece of art for about five seconds before moving on,” Parson explains. “One of my goals is to slow that impulse down. I’m trying to create a total sensual experience that traps you, so that right when you’re about to walk away from the work, it changes, subtly, and grabs you and pulls you back.”
The show opens tonight at 6 p.m. and runs through March 4 at Pirate, 3655 Navajo Street. For more information, visit www.pirateartonline.org.
Fridays-Sundays. Starts: Feb. 17. Continues through March 4, 2012
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