Kevin Liu

THIRD PRIZE WINNER

‘After Turrell, Backside of the Moon’

This design reinterprets one of Turrell's recurring works, Backside of the Moon, in the Space Division Constructions series and describes a tapestry of considerable thickness, with a velvet-like pile weave in deep blacks mixed in with rich dark colours. The purpose is to capture and reflect as little light as possible and to present a neutral backdrop to the Pharos Wing that recalls the darkness and intensity of Turrells dark-room works.

Within the centre of the tapestry is a rectangle of irregularly woven dark coloured thread of varying shades and thicknesses, only just slightly visible from the surface of the tapestry. Upon closer inspection this rectangle recedes into the textural quality of the tapestry, and at a distance, as a whole, it suggests the outline of a rectangle that references the barely perceptible apertures in the Space Division Constructions. Similarly, two arcs adorn the sides of the tapestry to mimic the faint wall lighting that is typical to these works.

The gradient and textural variation within the design is taken from a series of mezzotint experiments on copper based on the acclimatising experience to lighting levels in Turrell's Backside of the Moon, in which the outline of the aperture is gently coaxed through burnishing of the deep wells and burrs of a mezzotint ground. Striations within the image emerge due to inconsistencies of the rocker, exhaustion as well as the average of heavy 30-50 directional passes on the copper plate. The deep wells and burrs of the plate impart themselves to the cotton rag paper when printed under heavy pressure, producing a deep, rich velvet print with a density and texture unlike any other. The final printed state of this incomplete mezzotint work would form the basis of this design.