This is a 200 feet photo and painting installation at LAX Airport, Terminal 3, in the baggage claim area. It's accessible to general public, so when you are traveling through LAX next time, please check out this installation.
February 7 - July 6, 2008
LAX Airport, Terminal 3, Baggage Claim AreaThis installation, “Blue: Double-Side”, investigates the relationship between reality, perception and imagination using the color blue as a cue. The installation is composed of painting and photography. The photographs in the installation are taken in Los Angeles and Africa. The painterly elements and photographic images echo and interact with each other. I am incorporating these chance encounters with blue in my travels with painted elements of geometric shapes reminiscent of futuristic architecture and crystal growth.
Blue in ancient Egyptian art was depicted with the mineral Lapis Lazuli which purportedly possessed life-giving powers. Blue pigment ground from Lapis Lazuli was used in the depiction of Pharao, Nile, the life-giving and most important river in ancient Egypt, and also in the depiction of the Heavenly sky in ancient Egyptian art. In medieval illuminations and paintings from Europe, the same pigment from Lapis Lazuli was used to paint the robes of Virgin Mary.
I started the “Blue” project in 2001 as an attempt to open up my art practice to include accidental discoveries and Dada-esque randomness. I decided that for one year, I would photograph whatever I encountered that was colored blue whether it was the sky or a piece of trash on the ground. The ensuing portfolio of photographs, over one thousand images, served as a basis for several photo installations. The first large scale installation, “Blue”, was made for Seoul Arts Center in 2002 in Seoul, South Korea. Another large installation, “Blue II”, was created at Vox Populi in Philadelphia, PA in 2005.
In this new installation developed for the LAX airport, I have worked with new images from my recent travels and created an installation that describes two different worlds- Los Angeles and Ghana- and the air travel between them. There is much blue present in our visual experience, the blue sky, the ocean. And the earth is blue when seen from outer space. This focus on the color blue serves as a beginning point to reflect on the visual poetry that exists in our daily lives. I’ve noticed that in my experience of creating these pictures, the discovery of blue objects became a transformative experience of my daily life. The blue discarded plastic bag was as precious as the blue of the Lapis Lazuli, and I marveled at the poetry of my daily experience. I would be looking at a blue wall, then a passerby with a blue shirt walks by, and at the same time, a blue Pepsi Truck drives by. These small coincidences became poetry written by universe for me as the audience. Many of these encounters, I didn’t have the chance to record on camera, but I was profoundly touched by them. My intention for this installation is to create a poetic experience for the viewers who pass through this area of LAX. As you walk through and see these images, I hope that you have an experience that echoes this poetry of life.
