In general, for all of my concept ideas, my hope is to build off of techniques and skills I already have, while also pushing these skills to the next level. I would especially like to somehow incorporate electrical and soldering skills, and maybe even push my laser cutting skills to the next level.
Concept #1: 3D Printed Color Lithophanes/RGB light changing:
I’ve seen people 3D print what is known as a lithophane, which is an etched or molded artwork that can be clearly seen when the object is back lit by a light source. For most of the ones I have previously seen, they are made with a Whitish plastic and back lit with a Whitish light, making the image Black and White.
This concept/idea of mine would be to further this work that other people have done, and try to figure out how to incorporate LEDs and other imaging methods to be able to create a large scale Lithophane that not only can be viewed in Black and White, but other color formats, such as RGB as well.
I am also interested in seeing if I can pair this idea of lithophanes with the work Carnovsky has done with RGB light sources. My idea would be to see how I could incorporate 3 different images into one and have the particular image show up when a particular colored light source is turned on.
Concept #2: Infinite Mirrors/Lasercut Acrylic/LEDs:
Similar to works done by Chul-Hyun Ahn, my idea here would be to experiment with different types of mirrors and lights to create illusions of infinite space.
For this project, I would like to include my expertise in laser cutting by adding laser cut pieces and layers to see how this would diffuse the light and play into this illusion of infinite space. For this project, I would like to also encorporate different types of LED lights, and maybe even addressable LED lights to see how I could make the piece change overtime.
If I were to do something like this, I would also like to relate what is being displayed to something happening around us in the world. I am a big fan of data driven art, and would like the piece to be ever changing. For inspiration, I am looking at artists such as Derek Hoffend’s Wave Studies series, which combine sound recordings with colored light patterns; and Jim Campbell’s Day for Night piece on the top of the Salesforce Tower which was designed to be a visual diary of the surrounding landscape and community, replaying recorded footage of the ocean, bay, sky, and city life on a nightly basis.
If I were to go with this concept, I would potentially like the LEDs to change based on different data inputs. My hope would be that it could change for a variety of different settings and inputs, in order for a large amount of data to be represented through light. It would be a visualization of some sort of data, and maybe even react to different inputs from the viewer, such as some aspect of the changing environment.
Concept #3: LED Cube and Lasercut Acrylic Sculpture:
Similar to works done by Makoto Tojiki, my idea here would be to create a small sculpture of something while also encorporating Lasercut Acrylic in the hopes to diffuse the light in different ways. I would also potentially like to encorporate movement into the piece, or even putting multiple pieces into one by having different colors be incorporated into the piece, like Carnovsky does. I am also looking at other artists methods of LED sculptures such as Jim Campbell and Leo Villareal for inspiration, in which a heavy portion of their work uses motion to portray different situations, as well as LEDs for their main medium.
I would use my expertise on Laser Cutting and Soldering to create this piece, while also learning more about addressable LEDs and how I could potentially make this a piece that can change overtime, by just changing code to change the sculpture.
I have also seen other people create 8×8 LED cubes that can create fun light shows when programmed in different ways. My hope here would be to build off this idea, but make it larger than an 8×8 cube, while also encorporating acrylic panels to diffuse the light in different ways. Additionally, most of the ones I have previously seen only use 1 colored LED for the entire project, whereas I hope to use addressable LEDs that will be able to change depending on how I program them.
If I were to go with this concept, I would want the final image to move and interact. I believe something like this should be dynamic. In order to do this, it would be pre-programmed with a bunch of movements, and cycle through all of them.
Artist Questions
- I’m trying to choose between concept 1, 2, or 3. Which one do you think is the most interesting?
- Do you foresee any issues/problems for any of the concepts I included above, that I should be made aware of?
- Do you have any suggestions for any of the concepts I have listed? What else can I do to make the concept better?
- If I were to go with Concept 1 (3D Printed Color Lithophanes), what image ideas would you suggest for the piece?
- If I were to go with Concept 2 (Infinite Mirrors/Lasercut Acrylic/LEDs), what
- If I were to go with Concept 3 (LED Cube and Lasercut Acrylic Sculpture), what would you recommend some figures to display moving in the sculpture?
These are cool ideas Adam! My chosen artist was Chul Hyun Ahn and I like interplay of light so I am a bit biased towards the first two. Regarding how to have three distinct images in the lithophane, you can paint/print images on 3 transparent sheets of paper (eg. OHP paper), each in its own color, and then put a screen in front so you can only see when backlit. That might be manageable. My thought on the lithophane is that the current concept doesn’t have the sense of interactivity and dynamism that are in the other two, so I would say make it more interactive somehow if you like that concept.
I find it difficult to suggest images because that is so central to the art piece and its concept. To me, it feels like you have to decide that — I would be happy to give feedback/help talk it through though. Best of luck!
Also, I’m curious — what size are you thinking for these artworks?
The lithophane is a very intriguing idea – I’m personally in favor of that one. I’m not sure how different colored lights could be used with a lithophane to achieve the effect you’re after, but you could certainly combine or layer small lithophanes to create a larger image – for example, a puzzle of ~16 lithophanes that don’t look like much when separated, but form a face when a light shines through the finished puzzle.
I like the 3rd concept, even with a simple cube and some leds moving around in it would be a really interesting piece. For ideas on what to display inside the box, maybe a little man trapped in there just jumping around and hanging out inside.
I like the 3rd concept, I think that some sort of LED cube could be more dynamic and interactive than the other concepts. However, you’d want to make sure to differentiate your design from the others somehow.
As for the other concepts, I think concept 1 is a cool idea. I’m not sure if you could achieve a Carnovsky like effect by shining a light through the back, since you would need multiple different color lithophanes. If you had a red one in the front and blue in the back, shining a red light through the blue one to the red would block almost all the blue light. Maybe you could combine a projector with the lithophanes in some way?
As for concept 2, I think the idea to have the lights changed on data would be really cool. I think that element could make it pretty distinct from other infinity mirror designs.
1. I think all of these ideas are so awesome, but if you forced me to pick one, I would pick concept 3, because I think you could do the most with it, and I like the dynamic component (I can see you doing rain or something or even reverse rain going upwards).
2. The only issues I can see would be cost, depending on the size of the project. And the complexity based on size as well.
I also think that it would be super cool to have multiple colored LEDs for the third concept and have something be in color rather than just one color.
I really like all 3 of these ideas. I really like 3D printed lithopanes and would be interested in seeing if merging 3 images into one print is possible. Perhaps you could manipulate the direction the light is cast from to create a different image?
Having the LED cube be addressable sounds like an interesting engineering challenge. I’ve watched a couple tutorials on how to make them and even just having 1 color sounded intimidating to me.
I really like the 3rd concept, it’d be cool if you could make it look like a snow globe scene or maybe a moving flame.
I think that some combo of concepts 2 and 3 could be very interesting, if you put an LED matrix into an infinity mirror
I really love your third concept. I think there are lots of places that you could take it and you could potentially incorporate some of your other ideas into it by incorporating different movement and light sources.
I think concept 3 has the most potential, it would be interesting to have it react in real time to different inputs, like temperature, light, or maybe motion.
Tough call here, as all 3 concepts have potential and seem like they would provide a good challenge.
I’m personally most intrigued by the lithophanes, mostly because I haven’t seen anyone attempt this yet and I’m curious about the expressive possibilities. One thing that strikes me is that you could light it from the outside to highlight the low-relief sculpture aspect, then fade in the lighting on the inside to reveal a whole different layer of the image.
Its hard to pick a favorite between all your concepts. They’re all so interesting and could be taken in such different creative directions. I think I’m most drawn to the RGB lithoplane (although I wouldn’t be surprised if my preference changed every few hours). I don’t know exactly how it would work as I imagine the existence of each image in the lithoplane will impact the other images. Perhaps you would have to pick similar images in order for this to work, like a lion, a tiger, and a cheetah. No matter what you pick, I’m really interested to see how you would utilize your technical expertise.