December 14: LED there be Light

Amsterdam Light Festival is a winter light festival for all ages. For 50 days, the historical center of Amsterdam will present a unique décor for this international light and water festival.
To light up your winter, GO Gallery shows art works by several artists whose art works primarily have light as a medium.
The exhibition “LED there be Light”shows the works of  +Brauer, Max Zorn, Tim van Vliet, Darren West, Shifty Eye a.o..

Amsterdam Light Festival (ALF) is het winterse lichtfestijn voor jong en oud. De historische binnenstad van Amsterdam is ruim 50 winterdagen het sfeervolle decor voor het licht- en waterfestival.
GO Gallery exposeert vanaf zaterdag 14 december “Led there be light”, een expositie waarbij licht een essentieel medium voor de kunstenaar is.
De expositie “LED there be Light”, laat het werk zien van +Brauer, Max Zorn, Tim van Vliet, Darren West, Shifty Eye, e.a..

+ Brauer is a graphic designer living in Paris.
Over the past 20 years he has designed numerous album covers for French and international artists and pursued his personal artistic expression through painting, photography and sculpture.
He regularly exhibits in Paris, and presents here a few pieces from his series “Viva la roboluciòn! ”
From childhood, +Brauer has been strongly influenced by Sci-Fi novels, comics and American TV series, admiring both the magical world of “Metropolis” by Fritz Lang and the vastness of ” 2001: A Space Odyssey” by S. Kubrick.
More than their technological features, he tries to reveal the original, almost primative, form of the robots he creates.  +Brauer carefully chooses vintage objects that have an industrial past, that are marked by time and whose patina has been moulded by years of manual use. He admires the beauty, sometimes hidden, of these discarded industrial parts, alters their appearance, sculpts them, and incorporates light sources into their structure before assembling the parts together to create a unique and poetic piece.
The beauty of the materials and the venerable patinas express their beauty in the light of day, while at night, it is the turn of the strange, evocative light fittings to reveal their magic. Right from conception, the element of light is an integral part of the artwork: each robot is designed to interact with it’s environment in a different way whether it is turned on or off.
Abandoned or forgotten in workshops and garages, the industrial parts are reborn in unique works of art that embrace us with their kind presence, imposing personality, and amazing humanity. Each piece is a statement of poetic resistance to mass-consumption.
Viva la roboluciòn!

Amsterdam-based artist Max Zorn uses packaging tape like no one else – instead of using it for packaging or fixing stuff, Max creates stunning tape pictures. The artist achieves different shades, hues and shadows by layering the translucent tape on the Plexiglass and cutting it with a scalpel. Once finished, his artwork can be seen hanging on the street lamps – as the lights go on, they shine through the pictures and create a beautiful graphic effect. GO Gallery shows them in light boxes, to hang in you private space….

Darren West was born in 1966 in West Sussex and grew up in Burgess Hill. After leaving school he went to train as a glass blower and extended the course to become a teacher of this age old trade.
Since starting out in the neon glass blowing industry, Darren focused on the commercial side, but now he is entering his 30th year in the trade and has recently started to explore the complex relationship between art and neon. West ‘s work investigates and challenges contemporary belief systems and dissects the tensions and uncertainties at the heart of human experiences.
West developed his interest in exploring the neon art world a few years ago where he joined forces with London based milliner to the stars, Piers Atkinson, which resulted in an explosion in to the public eye by featuring in Vogue Magazine. This established Darren into the art world and secured his place firmly.
West’s understanding of neon in the art world grew significantly over the years and he began work on some of his most eye-catching and edgy pieces. Showing all over the world, these creations have made a real name for themselves in countries such as Los Angeles, Dubai, Paris, China and Australia. He has worked for international companies such as the BBC and managed to create a Quadrophenia style wall hanging scooter using a real Vespa and also getting it signed by the legendry Roger Daltry of The Who. With shows in London and elsewhere in the UK, Darren is becoming an iconic member of the modern British Art world. Charity based work and commissions have remained important to the artist and monies raised have gone towards different child cancer charities.
Darrens work has a provocative attitude which explores complex personal states, resulting in thought provoking, expressions of love, hate, religion and war. With work currently in the initial planning stage, West looks ready to set alight the neon art world with vigour and important names are coming forward requesting his name on their wall.

Tim van Vliet
Light Painting is a photographic technic that involves the use of light tools and the capturing of the light with the camera! These tools may be flashlights, LED strips, bike lights, fireworks or anything that illuminates the scene. The limit is the imagination of the artist. Apart from the tools and the camera all you need is a dark environment, the subject, the artist and his creativity! Pictures can be static or an interactive activity where the subject can also participate in the “painting” by drafting additional drawings around him/her/them self/selves.

.It’s a technic that dates back to 1914 and that even Picasso interacted with (known as “Picasso draws a centaur in the air). In-line with video mapping and other visual arts Tim brings it back to life in the event and party context. He and his team can be booked for parties & events, workshops, private sessions and product photography.

Shifty Eye
 During my walk of life I varied the time and energy that I put into my creativity and building things. When dressing my house I quickly ran into expensive and uninspiring stuff in the shops. D.I.Y. is for me a logical solution. Because I don’t have a technical background and I work with a broad range of materials I, every time, have to re-invent a wheel all over again. With the result that my wheel also rolls but just a little bit different.
I use discarded and second hand materials because I like to see them in a different way. Different than what they are meant for or how man is conditioned to see them. An infinite elastic associations with shapes and materials.
This way I also want to make people aware of the consu-more-and-more, throwaway society and encouraging reuse of resources and products. actually a commitment to a continues reincarnation of stuff with a use.

Because I have been skateboarding since 1986, a skateboard is for me a logical base material. I have no plan just an idea. The realization of the idea is a process that is subject to change. a lack of the proper tools, space, expertise and other resources stimulates the challenge and encourages my creative process. The desire to realize something must be present.Many things can be an inspiration to me but human behavior, nature, media and politics are my main sources of inspiration.

Max Zorn (de tape artist), begon 3 jaar geleden kunstwerkjes gemaakt van bruin plakband op acryl glas aan de lantaarnpalen in Amsterdam te hangen. Inmiddels hangt zijn werk bij verzamelaars wereldwijd en o.a. in december óók te zien op de Art Basel. Werk van Max Zorn is ook te zien gedurende het Amsterdam Light Festival in en rond het Verzetsmuseum, bij Artis.

+Brauer (Viva la roboluciòn!), gebruikt vintage objecten, veelal oude gereedschappen en auto-onderdelen om zijn robotten tot leven te laten komen.

Tim van Vliet (de lichtschilder)

Naast een aantal lichtbronnen als lantaarns, ledstrips, vuurwerk e.d., heeft de kunstenaar een donkere omgeving en een camera nodig. Voor zijn nieuwe serie heeft Tim een aantal beroemde Amsterdamse locaties “gelichtschilderd”. De foto’s zijn haast surrealistisch.

Darren West (the Neon Artist), blaast zijn eigen glas en neonbuizen die hij verwerkt op uitdagende afbeeldingen. Veelal gaat zijn werk over de liefde en haat, oorlog en religie.

Grote bekendheid kreeg West na een publicatie in de VOGUE Magazine waarin hij samenwerkte met UK bekende hoedenmaker Pierce Atkinson.

Shifty Eye
Tijdens mijn levenswandel heb ik wisselend minder en meer aandacht besteed aan mijn creativiteit. Bij het aankleden van mijn huis stuitte ik al snel op dure en inspiratieloze spullen in de winkels. Zelf doen is voor mij een logisch gevolg. Omdat ik geen vakkennis heb en met een breed scala aan materialen werk moet ik elke keer opnieuw een wiel uitvinden met als resultaat dat mijn wiel ook rolt maar net even anders.
Ik gebruik overbodige materialen en 2e hands spullen omdat ik het leuk vind om vormen en materialen anders te zien dan waarvoor ze bedoeld zijn of hoe de mens geconditioneerd is ze te zien.  Een oneindige elastische associaties van vormen en materialen.
Hiermee wil ik ook mensen bewust maken van de consu-meer- en- meer maatschappij en het stimuleren van hergebruik van middelen en producten. Eigenlijk een streven naar een continue reïncarnatie van spullen met een functie.

Omdat ik al sinds 1986 op een skateboard sta is het skateboard voor mij een logisch basismateriaal. Ik heb geen plan maar een idee. Het realiseren van het idee is een proces dat aan veranderingen onderhevig is. een gebrek aan het juiste gereedschap, ruimte, vakmanschap en andere middelen vormen voor mij juist de uitdaging en bevorderen ze mijn creatieve proces. De wens om te realiseren moet wel aanwezig zijn.
Veel kan voor mij een inspiratiebron zijn, maar menselijk gedrag, natuur, media, politiek zijn mijn voornaamste inspiratiebronnen.

Opening:      zaterdag 14 december, 17:00 – 20:00 uur.
25 en 26 december gesloten, open tussen kerst en oud & nieuw.
De expositie duurt t/m 25 januari 2014.

Voor meer informatie over het Amsterdam Light Festival:                              www.amsterdamlightfestival.com