Immersive Sculptural Installation Explores the Relationship Between Color and Light

Hymn to the Big Wheel Installation in London by Liz West

Liz West, “Hymn to the Big Wheel,” steel, PVC vinyl and polycarbonate, 480 cm x 480 cm x 300 cm, London, 2021. (Photography © Sean Pollock Photography / Canary Wharf Arts + Events)

British artist Liz West creates imaginative installations that explore the relationship between two fundamental themes in art: color and light. Her newest piece is an immersive sculptural work located at the Carany Wharf in London. Entitled Hymn to the Big Wheel, this outdoor installation invites the public inside its octagonal walls to see the numerous ways natural light can mix with the colors of the rainbow.

“I create vivid environments that mix luminous color and radiant light,” West tells My Modern Met. “I aim to provoke a heightened sensory awareness in the viewer through my work. I am interested in exploring how sensory phenomena can invoke psychological and physical responses that tap into our own deeply entrenched relationships to color.” Hymn to the Big Wheel is a large-scale architectural installation that is compromised of two octagonal shapes—one on the outside and another inside. The jewel-toned walls continually transform light throughout the day and appear differently, depending on the viewer's position.

Visitors can choose between entering the installation via a concrete ramp and fully saturating themselves in a spectrum of colors, or observing the effects from the outside. “My investigation into the relationship between color and light is often realized through an engagement between materiality and a given site,” West continues. “Our understanding of color can only be realized through the presence of light. By playing and adjusting the color, I bring out the intensity and composition of my spatial arrangements.”

Hymn to the Big Wheel is on view at the Canary Wharf, London until August 21, 2021. You can learn more about West's practice by visiting her website and keep up to date with her latest installations by following the artist on Instagram.

British artist Liz West installed a kaleidoscopic installation in London.

Liz West, “Hymn to the Big Wheel,” steel, PVC vinyl and polycarbonate, 480 cm x 480 cm x 300 cm, London, 2021. (Photography © Sean Pollock Photography / Canary Wharf Arts + Events)

Hymn to the Big Wheel is an octagonal space that refracts natural light into different colors of the rainbow.

Liz West, “Hymn to the Big Wheel,” steel, PVC vinyl and polycarbonate, 480 cm x 480 cm x 300 cm, London, 2021. (Photography © Sean Pollock Photography / Canary Wharf Arts + Events)