Strata #4

Media installation

Quayola [Italy]

Outline

Strata #4 is a multi-channel immersive video-installation commissioned by Palais de Beaux Arts in Lille, the second largest painting collection in France. The subject of this work is a series of iconic pieces from the Flemish collection, focusing specifically on RUBENS’ and Van DYCK’s grand altarpieces. Strata #4 is the result of a study and exploration of the paintings themselves, delving beneath their figurative appearance and looking at the very rules behind the composition, color schemes, and proportions of each piece. It is a precise process aimed at creating new contemporary images based on universal rules of beauty and perfection.

Reason for Award

This ambitious work explores new ways to look at art by manipulating the works of Baroque-era Flemish painters, notably RUBENS and Van DYCK. The creator’s exercise of restraint on the technical level yields an even stronger impact. One can see his sensibilities in every aspect of the work; his handling of light and color in the CG-synthesized 3D images is particularly delicate. In creating this installation he does a remarkable job of adjusting the relationship between the light in the video and that of the actual works on display. It’s a marvelous work that forces us to think about the quality known as “color” by generating 3D computer graphics from 2D paintings, thereby stripping colors of their picture plane-referenced meaning and converting them to a diversity of solid objects with their own variations of light and shade.

Back division top

BACK TO AWARD LIST