Christopher Henry Gallery had the honor to present Astral Flight Hangar, its first solo exhibition of multidisciplinary artist Dev Harlan. Occupying two floors, his hybrid works combines the physical and the virtual with the use of sculpture, light and projection. The large scale works draw on foundational geometries, and yet serves as vessels which contain material seemingly captured from the ether. There is no reckoning required – they are Here and Now. They embody that indescribable matter that exists between everything and nothing.
Utilizing innovative video projection mapping techniques, Harlan controls and shapes the projected image into precision alignment with his sculptural forms. Through his masterful use of this hybrid video technique Harlan makes the intuitive a reality and gives the works rhythms and a dialogue that set their own pace. Using a palette of strong, assertive colors, kinetic geometries, and varying vantage points the artist projects an intuitive dialogue onto the sculptures that is succinct and cohesive. Harlan is not a mystic, however, and exploits the geometric harmonies with intense patterned light and motion, much in the spirit of 60’s optical art. Influences include Bridget Riley, Victor Vasarely and Richard Anuszkiewicz, but Harlan is interested in taking those realities beyond the constraints of the two dimensional plane, exploring those concepts in motion, as if the surfaces had a life of their own. Harlan’s uniquely identifiable aesthetic language and reductionist approach place his work at the forefront of a new mode of media arts practice.
“Parmenides I (Star Geode)†is Harlan’s most ambitious and intricate work to date. A monumental object with an 8 foot circumference, it is mapped with projection from 360 degrees. The work is comprised of many triangular crystal-like facets, all individually illuminated and activated with pattern and bold color. The sculptural form is a unique type of shape, one that is not invented by man, but rather “discoveredâ€. Being mathematically implicit in our universe it occurs naturally, has characteristics in harmony with the golden ratio and therefore has always existed in a true “Parmenidean†sense.
Dev Harlan – “Parmenides I”, 2011 from Dev Harlan on Vimeo.
Dev Harlan
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Dev Harlan is a multidisciplinary artist whose hybrid practice combines the physical and the virtual with the use of sculpture, light and projection. As a self educated Artist, Designer and CG Director, Devan’s uniquely identifiable aesthetic language and reductionist approach place his work at the forefront of a new mode of media arts practice. Works have recently been shown at Scope NY Cinema Series, Optronica Festival, One Dot Zero Festival, Whitebox Gallery, Christopher Henry Gallery, Scope Miami Art Fair, and the Vimeo Festival’s “VimeoWorld.†Dev is a native Californian and currently lives and works in New York.
Sources:
http://www.christopherhenrygallery.com