Red neon lights arranged in geometric shapes or casting eerie illumination onto darkened trees almost seem like a natural phenomenon in the vein of the aurora borealis, captured by photographers who manage to be in the right place at the right time. A glow coming from a slit in a snowy landscape or just under the surface of the sea hints at the presence of life forms just out of sight.
‘La Linea Roja’ by photographer Nicolas RIVALS carries on a longstanding tradition of introducing artificial lights to natural spaces for high-impact temporary art installations, but adds a little something extra in the form of a strikingly limited color palette, moody skies, black lines of tree silhouettes and surprisingly natural-looking compositions.
The Paris-based photographer installed the lights in various landscapes while on a trip through Spain, capturing the effect using long-exposure photographs.
Here’s what RIVALS has to say about the series:
“A red line woven over a journey through Spain, to connect Man with nature. A red line to fix a moment of poetry. Unreal scenes which existed for a night to disappear in the morning. An installation left as a proposition to the natural world. A luminous harmony between will and chance. Between tribute and sacrilege. Between the beautiful and the range. An aesthetic research on shapes engaging in dialogue with an asymmetrical nature.”
