themes and memes in contemporary iconography

Last time we left off with the image of the black hole – assuming a black hole is capable of being an image. But at least we can imagine one.

Laurent Grasso approaches the notion elegantly, as a an edge - the event horizon. The frame becomes the subject and the center is nothingness, utter zero. The trick is the double visual vibration. The foreground blue neon ring operates at one frequency, the red ring behind it, at another, it’s ember-light reflecting off the wall.  The title “Eclipse” naturally recalls solar eclipses, but also epochal eclipses, and eclipses of power – all eclipses tend to be temporary. Of course, if one falls into this particular black-hole, your atoms wont be ripped apart per se, you just bump your head.

Laurent Grasso
“Eclipse”
neon, 40 1/4 x 40 1/4 inches (102.2 x 102.2 cm), 2010
edition of 5 with 2 APs
(Courtesy Sean Kelly Gallery, New York)

Next in Vortex: Mi Mai

Also in Vortex: Bai Yiluo | Marc Quinn