NORTHERN STAR
2002, halogen bulb, plaster, paint.
Halogen bulb embedded in a wall and plastered and painted over to create a soft glow emanating from the exact position for viewing the Northern Star when standing in the centre of the room.
The North Star or Polaris is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Dipper. As the earth rotates on its axis, once every 24 hours, the stars in the northern sky appear to revolve around the North Celestial Pole. Polaris lies roughly one half degree from the North Celestial Pole, so this particular star appears to remain stationary hour after hour and night after night.
“As if wishing away the confinement of four walls, the piece,Northern Star, involves a pinpoint piercing of the gallery lit up from behind by an Halogen bulb at the precise spot where, night after night, Polaris appears in the sky. There’s nothing necessarily spiritual or natural about this vision, however: it stands as an example of second nature, a doubling, at which Joe and Pat Walker excel particularly. But the cool modes of Conceptualist sparsity and site specificity are warmed by a Romantic longing to roam.”
Extract from Two Point(s) North, by Claire Daigle
See also Ill heard, ill seen.
2002, halogen bulb, plaster, paint.
Halogen bulb embedded in a wall and plastered and painted over to create a soft glow emanating from the exact position for viewing the Northern Star when standing in the centre of the room.
The North Star or Polaris is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor, also known as the Little Dipper. As the earth rotates on its axis, once every 24 hours, the stars in the northern sky appear to revolve around the North Celestial Pole. Polaris lies roughly one half degree from the North Celestial Pole, so this particular star appears to remain stationary hour after hour and night after night.
“As if wishing away the confinement of four walls, the piece,Northern Star, involves a pinpoint piercing of the gallery lit up from behind by an Halogen bulb at the precise spot where, night after night, Polaris appears in the sky. There’s nothing necessarily spiritual or natural about this vision, however: it stands as an example of second nature, a doubling, at which Joe and Pat Walker excel particularly. But the cool modes of Conceptualist sparsity and site specificity are warmed by a Romantic longing to roam.”
Extract from Two Point(s) North, by Claire Daigle
See also Ill heard, ill seen.
