may 2015


Drawing in Space

May 2-30, 2015
Artwork by Echo Lew

OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, May 2nd 6-10pm

Special opening night performances by
EDT-Embark Dance Theatre

WE ARE EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE:
A unique collaboration with artist and photographer, Echo Lew. His installation at Orange County Center for Contemporary Art will feature his famous light drawings.

Embark Dance Theatre will be performing live as he demonstrates how he creates these beautiful works of art.

 

Music Play, 2012


Artist Statement, "The Light Drawings"

After several hours of preparation, I use just a single shot to complete each image. During an exposure time of approximately one minute, I manipulate lights in front of the camera to create “Light Drawings.” Sometimes I invert the positive image to a negative one on a computer but otherwise the “Light Drawings” are not manipulated. Sometimes I put the same positive and negative images side-by-side in the finished piece.

I have been drawing with traditional mediums for twenty-eight years. I used oil painting to explore the effects of light in a 2006 solo exhibition, “See the Light,” at the Little Tokyo Cultural Center, partnered with Helen Keller International. I became curious about the effects of lights in motion. Could this become the basis of a new kind of drawing? I experimented with cameras and lights until I was able to spontaneously tap into decades of drawing experience while the camera’s shutter was open, bringing life to a series of “Light Drawings.” 

The technique originated in 1914 when scientists Frank and Lillian Gilbreth used small lights and an open shutter to track the motions of factory workers.  My light drawings are inspired by Jackson Pollock and Cy Twombly whose paintings are composed with spontaneous actions, performances traced in time.

In my Zen Buddhist meditation practice, the lights bend like a reed in the breeze,  or soar freely as a bird above a cliff, thousands of lights dancing in my mind. The inner world is clean, clear and full of fresh air. Thousands of lights move as a wave. The secrets of the universe are revealed.

Music, especially classical symphony, also shapes these visions. I draw the feelings the music brings forth, the expansive sense of flying over mountains, rivers, and oceans.

I have been an abstract painter for many years, concerned with line, shape, composition and concept. Digital photography allows me to expand creatively while using an ultra-contemporary medium with limitless potential.

Art for me is an experimental adventure, a profound form of play.

 


Bridge


Rhythm

 

Press Mentions:

Echo Lew’s New Works Reflect a Life Based in Aesthetics as Much as Utility,
Aeqai, By Anise Stevens. May 19th, 2015

“Drawing In Space” Opens At Orange County Center For Contemporary Arts
By Divulge Magazine Contributor Tim Woo, May 10th, 2015

   
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