Client: Private

Overview

Created as an invitation to hope post-pandemic, “Welcome to the Rainbow Vortex” is my exploration of stained glass in a secular environment (downtown San Francisco). Visitors just emerging from quarantine entered one of the first large scale art gatherings to be organized and were greeted as they came up the stairs with this 18 ft tall burst of colorful sacred geometry. The vinyl was cut into linear patterns and placed on transparent panels that allowed rhythm, light and the city scenes beyond to further animate the work. Colorful shadows danced across the floor providing an immersive refuge in uncertain times.

Goals

"Welcome to the Rainbow Vortex" was created to welcome pandemic weary souls back to art and maybe even joy. The relationship to traditional stained glass speaks to the contemplative state isolation had prompted and the possibility of art to use light and space to speak to the spirit. As colorful shadows swept across the floor, visitors to the exhibition could be found in moment of repose on the floor or watching the hypnotic movements of the city beyond filtered through the art. The work greets visitors as the enter the space and acts as an exterior beacon to the city beyond with its 2nd story corner prominence in a heavily trafficked part of downtown San Francisco.
Over the course of this group installation, the piece acted as a backdrop to several performance art pieces.

Process

Justin Young, multi-media artist and curator, was the visionary behind LOCAL LOVE, an ambitious exhibition intended to provide local large scale installation artists with commissions, audience and support as we started to emerge from quarantine in May 2021. Because of continued pandemic restrictions, I created this 300 sf piece in six sections in my studio (with studio assistance from Heather Graef) and installed them on site over two days. As an artist who uses buildings as canvases, I couldn't have been more grateful for the opportunity to return to the work I love.
Jodi Lomask, choreographer/dancer/scultpure further activated the piece with her interactive sculptural performances.

Additional Information

Photography by Jim Vetter