Light art & light sculpture – Christopher Madden

Mirror art – steel sphere reflection its surroundings

A polished steel sphere reflecting its surroundings

Steel sphere 2cm diameter 2022

The contents of this image are quite hard to decipher, which is part of the subject of the image and part of its appeal.

The spherical form at the centre of the image is a small steel ball approximately two centimetres in diameter. The dark form reflected in the sphere is me and my camera: you can easily identify my arm and hand waving in the air and you can also make out the camera (looking very large due to distortion in the sphere) with my other hand holding it.

The sphere appears to be resting in a depression in snow but it is actually resting in a drainage hole in the white concrete seating inside the James Turrell Sky Space in Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall, UK. The light ellipse on the sphere is the actual aperture in the Sky Space. It was a cloudy day. If it had been sunny the ellipse would have been blue.

One of the things that I find appealing about this image is that it combines my very modest work (in the form of a small reflective steel sphere) with a very large scale and high concept work by a hugely important artist.

The steel sphere was originally a component in a Newton’s cradle ‘executive toy’.

Mirror steel spheres are relatively common in sculpture that explores reflections. It’s hardly surprising, because in its simplicity the sphere itself is such a perfect three dimensional form. The highly distorted reflections generated by such a simple form are just too appealing for words. You can’t go wrong with mirror steel spheres!
Art meets science. Eclipse of the sun projected onto watercolour painting

Eclipse of the sun projected onto a watercolour painting

Photograph of watercolour painting (16 x 22cm) and projected image. 29th March 2025

The image above is a detail of the projection of a partial solar eclipse onto a watercolour painting. The watercolour painting is a simple painting featuring only a rudimentary landscape and sky which was created as a base for a collage. It was only while watching the eclipse from my garden that in occurred to me that the painting would work well as a backdrop for projecting the eclipse.

Using a telescope to project the sun onto a white background such as a sheet of paper is a standard method of observing the sun. It’s something I’ve been doing for the past 55 years or so.

The painting is on white watercolour paper which looks dark in these photos because the projection technique involves using a baffle to shade the paper (otherwise it would be too bright in the sunlight).

The projection could be categorised as a form of light art.

The whole painting with the solar eclipse projected onto it.

The painting in the garden with the solar eclipse projected onto it.
Shadow Art

Fork Lighting. Readymade art or shadow art

Fork, shadows. 10th September 2024

A spontaneously conceived piece of artwork created while I was putting away the washing up in the kitchen. The shadows are created by the ceiling lights.

This is a good example of finding inspiration anywhere and in mundane objects and mundane places, and of the importance of being open to inspiration striking at any time.

In some ways it’s a piece of readymade art, being basically a fork plucked from my dish rack, however the importance of the shadows also makes it into shadow art in which the cast shadows are as important as the object casting the shadows.

Who needs a studio when you’ve got a kitchen?
Expansion II

Expansion II

Digital animation. 2023

A digital animation composed of layers of expanding and radiating forms.

This work is from a series that explores the generation of complexity from simplicity by the interaction of simple forms to create complex forms.
Light art

Light art.

Light box, card, paper. 480x360mm. November 2023.

Light art in the form of a light panel with a collage of cut paper and card.

The illuminated triangular centre of the work is framed by black card with a triangular aperture at its centre. The curved and circular geometric shapes are formed of cut pieces of card or paper. Some of the pieces are cut so that they are not quite perfectly regular. This hopefully gives the work a degree of added dynamism.
Photography as abstract art

Photography as abstract art.

Photograph. May 2020. Zennor, Cornwall.

A photograph as abstract art.

I took this photograph because when I looked at the object in the photo in real life I was surprised how much it was transformed by a particular quality of light so that it resembled an abstract artwork.

It’s a photograph of a window in my house.
Complex patterns from simple patterns

Complex patterns generated from simple patterns

Digital animation 2015

This work is a slow moving animation that repays close attention. At first you may think that the animation isn’t working, but after three or four seconds you will notice the changes that are occurring to the complex inner structure of the work.
It is composed of overlapping identical grids of hexagons rotating relative to each other.
Simple algorithms make the black and white areas on the grids interact with each other so that, for instance, where black areas overlap they turn white.
The work is deliberately slow to give it a meditative quality. Other works in the same series are faster and give a more dynamic effect.

The work is part of a series called In the Beginning that explores the generation of complex patterns from simple patterns or forms as a metaphor for the creation of complexity within the physical universe from what must by definition be extremely simple beginnings.
Shadow rings – contemporary light sculpture featuring cast shadows

Shadow Rings.

Card, acrylic paint, LED light source. 30x15x20cm. 2022.

A light source shining on painted and folded card cut-outs in the form of rings.
The shadows cast by the light shining on the rings form half of each full ring on the base of the artwork.
The video above shows the light turning on and off to show the effect.
An example of contemporary light sculpture. The piece is deliberately low-tech, using a cheap commercial table lamp as a light source and simple folded card.
A proposal for a projection of Expansion II

A proposal for a projection of the light work Expansion II (proposal/visualisation).

Video 4m 53s. 2023

A projection of the work Expansion II.

An impression of what the work Expansion II would look like projected onto a wall of the National Theatre in London.
Blinds and light

Patterns of light

Photograph. Zennor. July 2021

A photograph of patterns of light created by the sun shining on blinds in a conservatory.

The bright dots of light on the wooden beams are created by light shining through the holes in the blinds that accommodate the blinds’ threads.

Cast light holds a particular interest for me.
Sunshine and Shadows.

Sunshine and Shadows.

Video. 30 sec. May 2018

A video of the sun creating complex patterns on the ground.

The video was shot in the gardens of Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, UK. The shadows are created by the branches of a pleached lime walk and the structure that is supporting it.

The video points to, amongst other things, the concept that the earth is connected to the sun in complex ways, with the sun creating the intricate patterns of life on earth (here portrayed by the complex patterns in the shadows of the branches). The fact that the pleached lime hedge is partly a work of artifice emphasises the link between the human race and the natural world (here portrayed by the shadows of the hedge’s supporting structure).
Environmental art – Earth in a Builder’s Skip II

Environmental art. The Earth in a builder’s skip

Video (1min 1sec). November 2023

A video camera moves towards a builder’s skip and travels through a hole in the tarpaulin that covers the skip to reveal the contents of the skip.

The contents are seen to be a view of outer space with planet Earth suspended or floating in it. The builder’s skip may be thought of as a portal to another dimension.

A meaning of the artwork is that the Earth has been reduced to the rubble and rubbish that is disposed of in builder’s skips or dumpsters, which are primarily designed to hold the debris and waste from construction projects and demolition projects. The work is a critique of our disposable consumer society and the environmental crisis that we are currently living through. In the area of London in which I live there are frequently builder’s skips positioned on the road in front of houses as the owners rip out perfectly good kitchens and replace them with new kitchens. It’s happening just a few doors away right now.

A video still from the Earth in a Builder’s Skip video.
Expanding and radiating forms

Expansion I

Digital animation August 2019

A video still from the work.

A work from my series of abstract animations depicting radiating forms expanding outwards from a central point of emergence. The work is linked to my interest in the process of creation on a cosmic scale, such as the creation of the universe at the Big Bang or the expansion of a star or other celestial object.

A video still from the work

The work is ideally viewed on a large screen.

This work was exhibited in the London Group gallery, Waterloo, London in December 2019 and the Penwith Gallery, St Ives Cornwall in February 2020.
Contemporary art linking art and science – Electrom

A detail from the work

An abstract moving image artwork in which multiple copies of a single shape move and interact using simple computer algorithms, generating complex shapes.

The animation links art and science by exploring the generation of complexity from simplicity.

To see higher resolution videos and more information about this series click here.
Ionn – abstract contemporary art meets science

A detail from the animation

Ionn – abstract generative animation

Digital abstract moving image April 2018

The image above is a detail from an abstract moving image work from a series in which multiple copies of a single geometrical shape are animated to interact with each other using simple computer algorithms, creating extremely complex shapes. See the video below for the full animation.

The animation is an attempt to link contemporary art and science by showing the way in which complex forms are generated from simple forms, which is one of the fundemental underlying principles of the structure of the universe (where the component parts of atoms such as electrons and protons are composed of even simpler entities, which themselves are composed of even simpler entities, which in turn…).

.
Art and science: abstract animations concerned with the creation of complexity from simplicity.

Proscion.

Abstract moving image March 2018

A piece of abstract digital animation that uses my technique of overlaying multiple copies of the same image made to move relative to each other in simple ways and to interact with each other so that, for instance, the colour displayed in the resulting image changes.
This “starburst” animation is composed of multiple overlaid copied of a 36 pointed star.
A key motive behind these video animations is the linking of art and science through the exploration of the creation of complex forms from the interaction of simple forms, with particular reference to the creation of the incredible complexity of the universe from its incredibly simple building blocks. There’s more about this here: Complexity from simplicity: contemporary artworks.
Proscion – abstract moving image artwork

A detail from the work

Proscion

Abstract moving image. March 2018

A detail from an abstract moving image work from a series in which multiple copies of a single shape move and interact using simple computer algorithms, creating complex shapes. The series is inspired by my interests in art, sciennce and philosophy
In this work each individual ‘entity’ is composed of multiple versions of a very simple star shape that is modified in size and colour to create a complex star form. Smaller clones of this star form are then ejected from the original star form, in an action that suggests the birth of new stars, the creation of matter in the universe or the evolution of self-replicating life-forms (hence the link between art and science).

To see higher resolution videos and more information about this series click here.
Abstract moving image. Interacting forms.

This video, titled Spyk, was exhibited in the London Group open exhibition, 7th November to 1st December 2017.

Spyk

Abstract moving image. 2017

The video is from my series of videos in which multiple copies of relatively simple forms are rotated at different rates to each other, thus generating complex forms. There are more of them here.

The video was displayed at the London Group Open in 2017. London Group was founded in 1913 by a group of artists including Lucien Pissarro, Henri Gaudier Brzeska, Jacob Epstein, Walter Sickert, Duncan Grant and Wyndham Lewis. Its aim was to be an artist-based group that could act as a counter-balance to establishment institutions such as the Royal Academy. Current members include artists such as Frank Bowling RA, Anthony Eyton RA and Dame Paula Rego.

To see higher resolution videos and more information about this series click here.
Spyk – abstract moving image art

A detail from the work

An abstract moving image work from a series in which multiple copies of a single shape (usually a relatively simple geometrical form) move, overlap and interact using simple computer algorithms to create complex shapes.
This work was exhibited in the London Group Open, 2017.

Spyk: Abstract moving image: August 2017

To see higher resolution videos and more information about this series click here.
Apple ‘brand identity animation’ with a similar feel to my own animations

I was interested to see during a shopping trip into London today (in April, 2017) that the current ‘branding animation’ that is running on all of the Apple computers on show in a department store that I visited had something of the look and feel of some of my own animations (shown below).
This is probably a coincidence. I can’t imagine that the designers in Apple’s branding department were trawling the internet and happened to come across my work. And then chose to adopt some of its style. Although you never know. They have to keep their fingers on the pulse after all – although I’m not sure how on the pulse my videos are, as the video that the Apple animation most resembles is several years now.
The Apple animation, which I can’t find on the internet, and therefore can’t point you towards, features the leaf on the Apple logo detaching itself and replicating itself to form a rotating circle composed of multiple copies of itself, changing size and colour but always retaining a degree of graphic simplicity.
The animation sequence to me had something of the feel of mine. Of course it may only be me who sees any resemblance, due to my heightened sensitivity towards the design factors of the work I created. My work uses circles rather than leaf-shaped lozenges, my circles interact where they overlay while Apple’s simply overlay, and mine are different colours, but that’s not much of a difference in my book.
Assuming that there IS a resemblance of some sort I’m not sure whether to be pleased that a company of Apple’s status is using a similar style to mine, and thus validating it, or be annoyed that a company of Apple’s status is using a similar style to mine, as people would inevitably say “Your animation’s inspired by Apple’s, isn’t it?”.

A longer version of this animation, with more variation in the movement, can be seen here: Animation