Artist Claudia Bueno has created a pulsating light installation that recreates the oscillating frequencies of natural life. Inspired by the natural splendours of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, the installation, called Pulse, will debut at Meow Wolf's new permanent exhibition space in Las Vegas later this year.
Venezuela-born artist Claudia Bueno has recreated vibrating frequencies of natural life, sometimes visible to the naked eye, in her "aquarium-style installation" Pulse. Coming to the Vegas branch of Meow Wolf this year, the installation is made up of intricate patterns of white lines that were delicately hand-painted on layers of glass panels and brought to life with sound and light. While playful and utterly mesmerizing, Pulse comments on humans' relationship with nature and life, and arts' engagement with the natural world.
Bueno says she was inspired to focus her project on nature after visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park six years ago, being gobsmacked by the natural splendours as she walked above the volcano hiding in plain sight. "Spending time in this geographical area where unquestionably nature still rules was a powerful and humbling reminder of our transient existence," she tells Lonely Planet.
"It felt incredibly vulnerable to be standing over the fine crust that separated my apparently sustainable world from a massive magma pool boiling below me with enough power to wipe out our existence with a sneeze."
The beauty of America's national parks, particularly Yellowstone where the earth seems to speak through spitting geysers, swarms of wildlife and simmering mud pots, is a revelation in nature and humanity. "Walking around Yellowstone feels like walking through a steaming cloud of our planet’s own breath where air, mist, mud, heat and water are exuding from it’s inner core," says Bueno.
"This to me provided a very deep and intimate connection with Earth, experiencing it as a massive active force and gaining a new perspective of my scale and impact in this world. Perhaps something similar is what touches people so deeply when they visit this area."
Bueno spent days in Yellowstone with her camera, photographing the micoorganisims and intricate natural patterns that grow inside the thermal pools. "From Micro to Macro, I started studying organic networks and growth systems like lichen, moss, fungus, leaves, flowers, tree bark, branches, root systems, forests, and so on… assimilating it all as one whole, evolving and giant living organism."
She returned to the studio in Idaho to transform the patterns into drawings, paintings, sculptures and Pulse was born. Working with an extensive team of local artists, the panels were hand-painted over the course of eight months. Two technical artists Meason Wiley and Mads Christensen assisted Bueno with custom light and sound systems for the installation.
"This is the most complex and involved project I have made and it came together beautifully as collaborative effort between many people that gave it their best care and expertise.. for this I am very grateful," says Bueno.
Pulse will run alongside 'creepy grocery store' Omega Mart as Meow Wolf's permanent Las Vegas exhibitions. Located at AREA15, this will be the art collective's third permanent space with other experimental art experiences at locations in Santa Fe and Denver.
Meow Wolf and Pulse will open in Las Vegas on February 18 and you can purchase tickets here. In the meantime, you can see more of Bueno's work here, or in more detail on Instagram. For Bueno, her hope is that "Pulse can take viewers back to that feeling of coming home that arises when we are able to go beyond our individual selves and connect to a much bigger expression of life."
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