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ShadowLight Productions exposes the general public to the art of Shadow Theater. We strive to help preserve indigenous shadow theater traditions, and to explore and expand the possibilities of the shadow theatre medium by creating innovative interdisciplinary, multicultural works.

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Out of the Shadows - 6 artists who make art with shadows

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Out of the Shadows - 6 artists who make art with shadows

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Out of the Shadows - 6 artists who make art with shadows

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SHADOW PLAY: 10 ARTISTS WHO MANIPULATE SHADOWS AS THEIR MEDIUM

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SHADOW PLAY: 10 ARTISTS WHO MANIPULATE SHADOWS AS THEIR MEDIUM

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Shadows are merely the echo of an object or person, showing the absence of light. Typically, shadows are overlooked with our eyes paying attention to whatever is casting them. In the case of these works of art, however, those roles have been reversed, and the shadow has become the main focus. We suspect that working with the same mediums over time like paint, charcoal and clay can get old, so it only seems natural that these artists would branch out to make complex pieces of art using just two simple ingredients, objects and a light source. In some cases, what seem like piles of junk or ordinary items arranged in a certain way are actually amazing pieces of shadow art that intrigue the viewer. Find out more about how these 10 artists use shadows as their medium.

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Shadow Art: The Best Artists Who Use Shadows | Green Label

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Shadows are merely the echo of an object or person, showing the absence of light. Typically, shadows are overlooked with our eyes paying attention to whatever is casting them. In the case of these works of art, however, those roles have been reversed, and the shadow has become the main focus.

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Kumi Yamashita Plays with Shadows to Create Art

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Kumi Yamashita Plays with Shadows to Create Art

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New York City-based Japanese artist Kumi Yamashita casts light on seemingly-random objects to create surprising shadow art. At first glance, her work may appear to be the silhouettes of people, but look closer and they are actually an assortment of wood blocks, fabrics, sheets of paper or aluminum and stainless steel plates attached to walls, which she shines a strategically-placed light on at just the right angle, thereby transforming simple, everyday items into extraordinary art. Perspective and imagination being key, the display may appear haphazard and chaotic at first, but every piece plays an important part, whose combined shadows produce unexpected results. Attention to detail is paramount: one false move and the creation is drastically altered and no longer looks the way it was intended. By focusing on the human figure, the carefully-choreographed artworks evoke a narrative with a range of emotions and feel like a personal memory of a moment lost in time. Realistic characters come to life from inanimate objects: a crease in a leaf of paper transforms into a shadowy face, the drape of a piece of fabric becomes a sensual female figure lying down, wooden numbers add up to form a child's profile, a section of carved wood portrays a man sitting on a chair.

Yamashita has previously stated, "I sculpt using light and shadow. I construct single or multiple objects and place them in relation to a single light source. The complete artwork is therefore composed of both the material (the solid objects) and the immaterial (the light or shadow)." Although she doesn't remember when exactly she started using shadows in her work, she has always been fascinated by the concept of light and shadow, especially the beauty of changing shapes and shadows as she watched the sun set in the sky. She draws inspiration from "nature and the works of great masters (anyone working at the height of their field): things that are usually so complete they require no explanation - they communicate their beauty directly". Good ideas come to her naturally; she doesn't consciously think about them. Once a concept pops into her head, she will see if it holds her attention for a few days or if it simply slips away. If the image of a new work stays in her mind and retains her interest, she moves on to the next step: sketching it on paper, then transforming it into a real work. First, she sets the pieces up on the floor with light coming from the side, thereafter moving them up onto the wall or flat surface.

"My main subject matter is the human form, and the materials I use or the ways in which I create the subject matter hopefully stimulate new perspectives for the viewer," Yamashita notes. "I strive for simplicity and elegance (a philosophy of less is more, perhaps), and I hope that my work can affect someone without the need for context. When beginning a new work, I take a lot of time working on sketches to get the composition and scale. This is especially true for site-specific work such as my Light & Shadow sculptures; it is very important that the artwork inhabits the space in a balanced and harmonious way. Working on sketches, drawings and plans of a new sculpture and how it will sit within a given space can take weeks. The actual making of the work also takes weeks or months. All the processes for the different styles of work I do are quite time intensive."

Yamashita goes on to discuss the difficulties of her Light & Shadow series, "In a shadow, there is very little information for the viewer - it is basically an outline of a shape. Getting that outline to look and feel natural is a challenge. For instance, a hand resting on a knee might look natural when you see a person doing it, but if you reduce it to just shadow, it might just look like some strange object on their leg. So to get human gestures to look recognizable, relaxed and natural in shadow takes some time and effort. Choosing the right light is also very important as different bulbs have different qualities. Some bulbs will cause double shadows to appear, which ruins the effect, so I end up doing a lot of testing to find the correct fixture for each sculpture and application. Once I have figured out the shadow's shape and the light to be used, I can begin crafting the actual sculpture, which might entail carving a single piece of wood or fabricating many different objects to create the effect." After a piece is completed, as it is created by the interaction between an object or objects and a single light source as well as the wall surface that the shadows fall upon, its installation calls for careful consideration of any ambient light in the space, which might cause other shadows to appear on the art wall or make the sculpture's shadow appear weak. Also, if a wall contains bumps or dents, it will distort the shadow.

Born in 1968 in Takasaki, Japan, and raised in nearby Maebashi, Yamashita lives and works in New York City. Always drawing and cutting up paper as a child, her father was a sculptor and professor of industrial design and her mother owned a store selling traditional Japanese craft objects such as laquerware and handmade ceramics. Her parents allowed her to pursue her own interests and she has been fortunate enough to never have had to do anything else except make art in the course of her life. After studying at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington, she then obtained a master's degree in fine art in 1999 from Glasgow School of Art in Scotland. She has held solo shows at the Seattle Art Museum, Boise Art Museum in Idaho, Roswell Museum in New Mexico, Yerba Buena Center in California, the Esplanade in Singapore, Hillside Gallery in Tokyo and Kent Gallery in New York, and her works form part of the private and public collections of the Microsoft Art Collection in Washington, New Mexico History Museum, Tokyo's Akiru Medical Center, Osaka's Namba Parks Tower, Stellar Place at Sapporo JR Tower in Hokkaido and Hamada Children's Art Museum in Shimane.

Yamashita's other works include her Rubbing compositions using the frottage technique, where she creates portraits by rubbing a graphite stick on paper placed over the raised numbers and letters of a subject's credit card. For the commission of a portrait of Samuel Beckett, she had raised plates made from his handwritten diaries so his likeness was literally fashioned from his own words. Both using thread and fabric, her Constellation and Warp & Weft series differ in that the portraits of the Constellation works are created by the additionof one single unbroken thread to a white panel dotted with thousands of tiny nails, while the Warp & Weft images are made through the subtractionof numerous threads from a single cut of cloth, which end up resembling actual woven rugs. She concludes, "Sometimes the biggest challenge is simply making sure that you are creating something to which you are connected and in which you can maintain integrity throughout the process."

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Kumi Yamashita Plays with Shadows to Create Art

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Share to facebook Share to twitter Share to linkedin New York City-based Japanese artist Kumi Yamashita casts light on seemingly-random objects to create surprising shadow art.

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"Airborne Projection" was an interactive installation commissioned by the Chrysler Museum of Art to transform Norfolk's public space into a poetic shadow play. Participants blocked the light of two projectors casting their shadows on a 900 sqm wall, and these were tracked by computerized surveillance systems. Out of the shadows emanated bellowing smoke which was mapped onto the wall and accumulated in it.

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Animation, projections and moving shadow

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Animation, projections and moving shadow

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Miwa Matreyek: Glorious visions in animation and performance

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Using animation, projections and her own moving shadow, Miwa Matreyek performs a gorgeous, meditative piece about inner and outer discovery. Take a quiet 10 minutes and dive in. With music from Anna Oxygen, Mirah, Caroline Lufkin and Mileece.

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Diet Wiegman is a Dutch artist that uses a combination of sculpture and light to create fascinating shadow art projected onto walls. Born in 1944, he began experimenting with light sculptures in the 1980s, inspiring a generation of artists after him to also explore the art style (e.g., Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Kumi Yamashita).

For more artwork by Wiegman, be sure to check out his official site at dietwiegman.tumblr.com/ where you will find all of his light sculptures as well as drawings, paintings, photographs, ceramics and more.

[ Alafoto via TruthSeerum]

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Diet Wiegman is a Dutch artist that uses a combination of sculpture and light to create fascinating shadow art projected onto walls. Born in 1944, he began experimenting with light sculptures in the 1980s, inspiring a generation of artists after him to also explore the art style (e.g., Tim Noble & Sue Webster, Kumi Yamashita).