Street artists are using simple glowsticks to produce an amazing variety of light art and graffiti. These tags, comics, creatures and shapes fade as fast as they appear, unless they is captured by time-lapse photography. Like traditional graffiti and street art, light art comes in many forms. Unlike most graffiti, however, there is no one to complain about being tagged!
Tags: Of course, an easy and straightforward form of light art is tagging. Glowsticks can be used to trace letters, and muscle memory takes over to create these shapes.
Cartoons: Creating light art cartoons is a little more tricky, and also brings more creativity into place. The above image (right) shows a clever integration of the figure with its context.
Creatures: Light art can also be used to animate or give life to inanimate urban objects, from garbage cans to post office boxes. Since the light fades right away, only those who see the photos get a glimpse of the secret life of these light art creatures.
Shapes: Light art shapes require particular attention to camera view and alignment. Pulled off right, though, they can highlight, reinforce or interpret an urban space in simple but powerful ways.
Other: Of course, the sky is the limit. The above image cleverly integrates the artist into the scene – he seems to be playing a game with his pet monster. Light art is easy to start experimenting with – disposable glow sticks that last for hours are only a few dollars.
