Anyone who’s entered a darkened room and experienced a camera obscura might feel some deja vu inside a Renee Butler installation. Her work illuminates a wall or a structure with elements akin to that ancient optical effect real-world color, incremental movement, photographic detail, and in some cases, ambient sound. Butler’s images, however, obey the law of gravity (right side up) and, for the most part, imply no static point of view. Moreover, they invite the viewer inside. Projected from multiple sources, these images create an environment of continuous visual sensation, an experience described by one writer as “standing within beams of light.” Butler‘s sea-, sky-, and landscapes feature architectural details and fireworks but more often natural phenomena—calving glaciers, rippling water, flowers, sunsets. …see the entire article in the print version of December’s Sculpture magazine.
