These intricately choreographed dances of light and color are at once static but ephemeral, lasting longer than conventional light graffiti but nonetheless made of impermanent light.
Stephen Knapp is a sculptor and muralist who has worked in metal and glass, but his latest array of light paintings turn the latter toward a new and more indirect purpose.
His pieces are not sketched, programmed or otherwise visualized in advanced, but emerge as he begins cutting, polishing, shaping and places pieces of glass on the wall. Unlike many light graffiti artists, the work does not rely on a photographer capturing a fleeting moment, but can be put up on museum walls indefinitely.
“The fun of what I do with light, is that there is nothing in our visual memory that prepares us for what I’m doing,” says Knapp. “The fact that what I create can just be done with light, that there is no paint on these panels, is absolutely astounding to people. What I am trying to do most of all here is challenge any traditional notion of perception. What is it? Is it real? Is it not real? Does it matter?”
His work has been featured in galleries around the world from Boise to Naples and a solo exhibition is currently on display at the Pensacola Museum of Art.
