Credits: Aaron Culmer for the first and last image; Patrick Rochon for the middle image.

This is the first of a series of future talks inspired by the four spiritual elements of Fire, Air, Water and Earth. In these talks we will explore the symbolic and spiritual significance of these elements and how artists express and utilise them in different ways. 

Starting with Fire, we have invited two photography artists, PATRICK ROCHON and AARON CULMER, to talk about their artform. Patrick and Aaron have independently developed their light drawing techniques as a meditative creative experience to enter a literal ‘flow state’. Light photography is a time-based technique, in which the shutter is kept open for as long as required by the artist, even several hours. However in order to succeed, the artist needs  to work in complete darkness as any light source will be recorded in the final image. This requires a heightened proprioception on the part of the artist, i.e. a strong awareness of the position of his/her body in space and time, which is usually common among dancers but not among visual artists. 

I enclose some videos that demonstrate Patrick’s and Aaron’s different ‘drawing’ styles to illustrate this point: 

ABOUT LIGHT PAINTING PHOTOGRAPHY

I stumbled into light painting while searching for examples about the spiritual in photography during my final photography BA year. Light painting photography does not feature highly in Fine Art. There are a few ‘light’ artists who have been successfully recognised by contemporary art galleries, to name a few: GARRY FABIAN MILLER, VICKY DASILVA and TOKIHIRO SATO. Ironically, ‘light’ photographers, are a small minority in Fine Art. Therefore light painters tend to work at the fringes of the art world, representing perhaps an underground community (James Elkins might categorise it a ‘popular’ art, rather than High Art).

Nevertheless, Light Photography is as increasingly popular form of photography, especially among several amateurs photographers who have discovered it, and the community of light painters is growing both online and off line. Light painting tutorials often become an occasion to meet other likeminded creators and explore our natural or urban surroundings at night. This unusual modus operandi engenders a sense of doing something 'occult', under the dark cloak of the night, akin to an esoteric cult. In any case, it is a lot of fun for the participants and the general atmosphere is jovial and collaborative. These tutorial sessions help to create a sense of creative belonging. Furthermore, experts light painters design and manufacture their own luminous 'light wands' and sell them to novices. 

Nature is another context that adds mysticism and magic to the creative experience.  Water often appears in these creations for its reflective (and I would add spiritual) property, and many light painters look for special natural 'sacred' spots in which to place their images. Often the result is quite mystical. 

Light painting is also an embodied practice as the painter has to move his/her body to create the image, which encourages and reinforces body-mind coordination and union at a neurological level, i.e. it is a whole-brain activity. Unlike ‘traditional’ photographers, who stand outside of the image they compose, light painters participate and are physically embedded in the final picture, or at least the energetic trace of their bodily presence is, turning them into invisible performers rather than passive recorders of the 'decisive moment' (Henri Cartier Bresson).

Finally the camera captures movement and time into one still photograph, which gives the image a ghostly, supernatural effect. What we are ‘looking at’ is a camera vision, not a human vision, hence the preternatural connotations often associated with light painting images. All these aspects contributes to make light painting an artform that can produce spiritual-like experiences for the creators as well as for the viewers. Of course not all light photography is spiritual. Much of it is a bit of a gimmick and an opportunity to create phantasmagorical and esoteric imaginary, especially when a human figure is included. Light painters equally happily apply their skills and their art for commercial ends like portraiture, fashion photography, advertising and other more material applications.

I think I have provided enough cues about this artform to stimulate an interesting discussion with Patrick and Aaron. There is much to unpack about this artform.

We are looking forward to see you there!

Annalisa 

Join our  Facebook Group called Spirituality and the Arts using this link. 

For more details, see https://spiritualitystudiesnetwork.org/Spirituality-and-the-Arts-SIG

The SIG Chairs: the Rev. Prof. June Boyce-Tillman, Dr Lila Moore, Annalisa Burello. 

ARTISTS' STATEMENTS

Patrick Rochon

“The art that comes through me is higher than I could ever be.”

In 2011, Canadian Artist Rochon publicly declared light painting as a form of art in its own right. Rochon announced fifteen years earlier that he was dedicating himself to this art form full-time. The Merlinesque results of combining his photography with elements from painting, dance, sculpture and media arts, is a remarkable marriage of humanity and technology, lifting the trace of the artist to new heights and opening new horizons for a new school of artistic expression at the highest level of fine art.

Aaron Culmer

Without the ability to actualize an idea or concept art would not exist. In my art, I like to capture the beauty of light through long-exposure photography referred to as “light painting.”  Just like in canvas painting, I use multiple brushes and light sources to add color and light to my subject inside the photograph. This contemporary medium combines the technical aspects of photography with the free flowing nature of painting in open space. I often transcend into a higher state of “consciousness” during my work, as if a higher creative source is guiding my hand.   This “flow state” is a form of meditation that is not only highly creative but also extremely therapeutic. 

My goal as an artist is to inspire those who see my work to look more carefully at the world around them, to discover the ethereal realm that keeps us all connected.   If a viewer stops for just a moment to reflect on an image I have painted, then I feel I have succeeded in my work. 

The video recording of the event is now available on our YouTube channel Spirituality and the Arts Special Interest Group