The Making of Light: an Installation in Process

Taylor’s next project is an ambitious large scale installation that is currently in production. Constructed using over 4000 lenses, gleaned from over 15 optometrists around Johannesburg, this piece has already taken 10 people 8 weeks to construct, and is an eagerly anticipated shift into the space of installation and conceptual art for the artist.

The installation ‘Unified Field’ is a play of lights and viewpoints literally presenting the world as a series of visual perspectives that reminds us that no two vantage points offer the same experience. It exposes our differences, while at the same time reminding us we are all part of a greater whole.

The solid conceptual underpinnings of this piece aside, it is a visceral experience that provides a momentary breath from the pace of life on the streets outside. Through play with glass, light, air and reflection, Taylor aims to give us a physical experience of this weightless, fearless, state of unified belonging.The artwork is made by first creating little pods of 8 lenses each, then joining those pods together to make larger units and finally those units are joined together and suspended. Taylor carefully positions the 8 lenses in an arrangement and traces the outline to retain the positioning each lens. The points that need to be drilled are established and marked with ink. The holes are drilled with a 0.8mm jewelry drill and then each point is intricately connected with wire as thin as cotton thread. Each lens has 4-5 points of connection, emphasising that the experience of subjective separateness and is very real but it is an illusion.

As writer Andre' Croucamp said while exploring Taylor's work, " the viewers subjective experience, the pain associated with it, makes you believe you have an edge and a separate existence, but you are actually physically, thermodynaically, chemically, genetically, ecologically, historically, linguistically and culturally connected to everything around you and to everything that has come before you. If you cease to believe in the illusion of separate existence, even for a moment, your fear will reduce and you will become more vulnerable to the wealth of information and experience around you. "

Plans are underway for the display of this large scale installation in 2016, signalling a new chapter in the artist's mode of practice.

"Unified Field" will be constructed from over 4000 glasses lenses.

The artwork is made by first creating little pods of 8 lenses each, then those pods are joined together to make larger units.

"My work displays our world as a beautifully constructed illusion on which we build our lives," says Taylor