Lumières - The Play of Brilliants exhibition, organized by Light Collective, was Primary's second installation following a period at the PSAS Gallery in Perth last summer. For the Paris exhibition, Talbot re-scaled the piece to be around 10% smaller than its first incarnation and chose to use PLprofile4 luminaires instead of the PLprofile1 units he originally specified.
"Due to having a smaller space to work with I felt Primary was a bit too large at its original size," explains the Australian designer. "It also meant the luminaires I used had to be positioned closer to the piece, which is why I turned to the PLprofile4 this time around. Its wider beam angle was integral in washing the sculpture evenly.
"I was pleasantly surprised at how wide the PLprofile4 luminaires were able to go. Naturally the LED light is saturated and pure but being able to achieve that in a wide angle wash isn't easy."
A three-sided triangular wall installation made from cardboard, Talbot's piece explores the three primary colours of light - red, green and blue, with the structure designed to fragment the light and demonstrate how coloured light is mixed.
"Intense colour and absolutely pure light is vital for Primary," explains Talbot. "The installation is purposefully designed to break up light into many shadows but unless the light source is completely even, the effect and the magic is lost. I had fantastic feedback from people of all ages about Primary, with visitors often sitting in front of the sculpture and watching the light show loop again and again.
"I'd like to say a special thanks to everyone at Eléphant Paname for exhibiting and promoting my project, to Light Collective for inviting me and to Bob Roos at Philips for the support and working hard to get the fixtures to Paris. The Selecon units performed perfectly for the entire three months of the exhibition and I wouldn't hesitate to use them wherever I show Primary next."
Lumières - The Play of Brilliants was an eclectic mix of light art, distributed over three floors to create an immersive, moving and interactive visitors experience. It ran from 6 March to 31 May.
(Jim Evans)
