Repurposed Stained Glass Comprises a Disorienting Illuminated Greenhouse by Heywood & Condie
All photographs © Heywood & Condie, shared with permission
An excellent greenhouse suffused with a wealthy spectrum of coloration stands at 25 Porchester Place in London. Bathed in daylight by day and illuminated by LED bulbs at night time, the translucent construction is lined with a disorienting collage of Christian iconography and folkloric imagery: saintly figures sprout insect wings and wildlife occupies areas often dominated by people in a melange of religious symbols.
Titled “Sacré blur,” the greenhouse is a 2015 undertaking by horticultural artists Tony Heywood and Alison Condie, who initially created the piece to deal with psychedelic crops on the Oxford Botanic Gardens—this a part of the undertaking by no means materialized over fears that college students may misuse the hallucinatory specimens. The intention for the sculpture revolved across the thought of sacred mild, the foremost instance being stained glass, and making a transcendent area full with a mirrored infinity flooring. “We’re gardeners,” Heywood shares with Colossal. “The greenhouse is an architect’s equal of a temple. It’s the place life begins and the ritual of caring and nurture happen.”
The London-based pair, who work as Heywood & Condie, started by dismantling a whole bunch of panels, a few of which dated again to the 18th and nineteenth centuries, and following the patterns and grisaille to splice new creatures. They then glued the layered works to the prevailing body of a greenhouse. “The thought is nature remodeling and utilizing the stained glass as a medium to go to a (time) once we worshiped crops, bugs, and animals, versus the Christian line of considering that people are above animals, above all the things,” Heywood says.
This connection to the earth alongside an curiosity within the broad reaches of spirituality affect the pair’s observe, significantly these regarding creation myths and about bringing new life into existence. “Church is about shifting our consciousness and making us consider the place we lie on the earth and likewise, whether or not it’s a psychedelic expertise or a meditative expertise, it’s about shifting our consideration,” he shares. “Gardening is an act of creation.”
“Sacré blur” has been exhibited in a number of places lately and will probably be at its present spot for the approaching weeks. Heywood & Condie have a number of works in progress in the mean time, together with an alphabetical labyrinth on a northwest U.Okay. seaside and an obelisk assortment mixing non secular stained glass together with items from early pinball and playing machines that will probably be on view at Vigo Gallery. You can even see their works as a part of The Poetry of Bushes, which opens at The Atkinson in Southport on June 4, and on June 11, a collection of jewel-encrusted marine microorganisms will float throughout The Water Gardens at Marble Arch in London. (by way of Steampunk Tendencies)
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