LET THERE BE LIGHT
Art meets science as La Prairie presents a luminous exhibition by Chul-hyun Ahn at Art Basel in Hong Kong
Most people see art and science as two separate pursuits. Scientific discoveries are often portrayed as eureka moments made by an exceptional analytical mind, while original artworks are viewed as the end product of an artist’s inspiration.
However, visitors to an exhibition of Chul-hyun Ahn’s work presented by Swiss luxury skincare brand La Prairie during this year’s Art Basel in Hong Kong would have discovered that the fields of art and science have much in common.
The South Korean born, Us-based artist displayed three illuminating art pieces— Transparency, 4 Dots, and Light Drawing—in the La Prairie Pavilion of the Collectors Lounge at the art fair from March 29 to 31.
Inspired by the science and phenomenology of light, as well as theories of the subconscious, Ahn makes mind-boggling sculptures that create the illusion of infinite spaces. The sculptures combine luminescence, colour and reflection as physical representations of infinite beauty, the very basis for La Prairie’s Science of Light.
Indeed, the Swiss scientists at La Prairie made one of their greatest breakthroughs this year, drafting an equation based on the relationship between colour, reflection and light as they apply to the skin. A shining tribute to luminosity is the White Caviar Illuminating Pearl Infusion—a serum that contains golden caviar extract and helps reduce skin discoloration, and the White Caviar Crème Extraordinaire that is formulated with the brand’s patented Lumidose molecule for a glowing complexion. Both represents the solution to that formula: the Equation of Light, Decoded. “It is this new chapter in La Prairie’s Science of Light—one which takes the relationship between beauty and light a step beyond—that has inspired us to enter into this very special artistic collaboration with Chul-hyun,” says Greg Prodromides, chief marketing officer of La Prairie Group. Using layers of mirror, reminiscent of the layers within the skin, Transparency depicts a portal of infinite reflections through which the viewer can travel to an imaginary space, while 4 Dots uses colour to evoke both the passage of time and the constituent parts of white light. Light Drawing (Molecular Geometric) uses light to evoke a precise geometric arrangement of atoms that constitute a molecule. Beginning with the Science of Light, this work uses reflection and luminosity to depict the beauty of the most basic building blocks of the universe. “I translate geometric forms and the Zen practice of meditation into an art of light, space and technology,” says Ahn. “I seek to entice the viewer to look deeply into his or her frame of environments and see what is not there. I explore the immersive, illusory possibilities of reflection, fascinated by the notion of the void and its limitless nature. Light is the perfect medium to explore that notion.”