January – February 2011
254 Park Avenue South
New York City
Carol Salmanson uses light to create sculptures and installations that reflect and enhance existing architecture and surroundings. Park Lights is comprised of Neo-Gothic Rockets (2011) and Upon Reflection (2011).
Neo-Gothic Rockets is installed on the second-floor corner windows of a vacant apartment. Playing off the historic 1913 building’s architecture, the artwork emphasizes different materials and colors at various hours. In daylight, it references the shapes of the building’s ornamentation — arrows on its face and bronze spandrels below the windows — to create a shimmering composition of industrial reflective sheeting in primary colors. At night, these shapes become red, blue and yellow shadows backlit by the geometric glow of secondary colors, creating variations of the window and mullion lines. Together they create a sense of movement, amplifying the building’s architecture and echoing the rhythms of the bustling city streetscape. Illuminated down Park Avenue South, this bold installation offers an abstract, playful vision to the passing public. Designed in patterns and bright hues, Salmanson creates glowing panels of color to create a dance of oppositions and complements, which change throughout the day.
Upon Reflection (2009), a totemic work consisting of LEDs, stainless steel, electronic-ballast fluorescent lights, gel filters and prism rods, is installed in a ground floor window of the same building. This ethereal sculpture explores an ancient sculptural symbol, but by using repetitive structures, removes the vertical hierarchy associated with totems. Imbuing the work with a mystical aura, the colored lights create a contemplative, meditative space visible to the pedestrians on this busy urban street.
This installation was made possible by the generosity of Dan Rosen and Rosen Partners LLC.