18 May 2018

Taree Mackenzie

Neon Parc

Reviewed by Ranger Thomas

Five revelations of light, reflection, and color glow in the darkness at Neon Parc. Taree Mackenzie has installed kinetic sculptures, slow-moving, symmetrical, and exquisitely made, into discrete corners. Dividing each pair of floating geometries is a sheet of tinted glass, at once transparent and reflective, aligned with the corners at 45 degrees. LEDs light the walls with saturated colors. The reflections in the glass are abstract phantoms that mix the colors of the LEDs, the rotating sculptures, and ourselves as we move among the art.

Each is a Pepper's ghost, a stage illusion invented by the 19th century scientist J.H. Pepper. The geometry of the mobiles suggests atomic structures or models of photons. They invite the contemplation of physics, optics, and the universe, and prompted me to hurry home to my copy of Richard Feynman's QED to read again of what he called the strange theory light and matter. It is a gorgeous experience from an inspired artist.