Flint Journal, The (MI)

March 22, 2007
Section: TODAY
Edition: THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION Page: D08

Memo:Review

"Phase Shift"

* Where: Fine Arts Gallery, Mott Community College Visual Arts and Design Center, 1401 E. Court St.

* When: Through April 3

* Details: (810) 762-0443, www.mcc.edu

MCC's 'Phase Shift' exhibit is mesmerizing



By Grayce Scholt Contributing writer  

If you're looking for a meditative, almost hypnotic art experience, don't miss seeing "Phase Shift," an installation by Detroit artist Dennis Summers at Mott Community College's Fine Arts Gallery.

The darkened gallery has two viewing stations for what the artist calls "moving paintings." One station is for the video called "One Again"; the other is for "Flame."

Both videos were inspired by the minimalist music of the composer Steve Reich, who used audios to create patterns that went out of phase and back again.

"I wanted to do something similar with color," Summers said. And by means of digital software called "combustion," he has accomplished his goal.

"One Again," the first of 24 finished pieces the artist has created, is the result of a DVD projected on a huge screen using sets of two colors. Over a period of 15 minutes, each color is cycled through all the colors of the spectrum, moving slowly out of phase and back again. The viewer is compelled to watch the single fuzzy dot in the middle of the screen as it appears to enlarge and diminish, expand and contract - all accomplished by color alteration only.

"Flame," a later and more complicated work, is a fascinating projected illusion that uses a myriad of changing colors that result in seemingly endless optical effects. Over about 15 minutes, they move and twist and rearrange themselves over and over, reminding one of flames in a wood-burning fireplace, the changing colors of an evening sunset or Northern lights that leap and dance.

In both cases, the effect is almost mesmerizing, and as with abstract art in general, the work is open to the viewer's interpretation.

Summers, a digital animator, has exhibited at the International Bienale of Contemporary Art in Spain, the Pompidou Center in Paris and several galleries in the United States. He will give a public presentation at 10 a.m. Monday in room 129 of MCC's Visual Arts and Design Center.





 

Record number: 0414578290 Copyright 2001, 2002 The Flint Journal. All Rights Reserved. Used by NewsBank with Permission.

By receipt of this document, I agree to use the information contained herein for personal use only. I will not, in any way, attempt to copy and distribute in conventional or electronic means, post on a web site or send to other parties via email. All information contained in this document is protected by federal law.}