Shadow and light

Clouds (2005) - Kumi Yamashita

The use of light/shadow is a wonderful medium in the creation of art. Shadows may be created using an artificial light source, or the light cast from the sun (or moon). Art using shadow can be ephemeral and fleeting, covert yet revealing, both subtle and dramatic. With forethought, the results can be truly magical. 

Jordanian couple Maysoon Masalha and Bassam Al Selawi (working in Abu Dhabi), create calligraphic artworks incorporating poetic phrases and verses from the Quran that reveal emotive imagery once illuminated. 

Petra 1 البتراء top & O Lord, Ya Rab يا رب  - Maysoon & Bassam

Kumi Yamashita is a New York-based artist who is well-known for her light and shade sculptural works using everyday items.  

Building Blocks (2014) top & City View (2003) - Kumi Yamashita

I love Yamashita's sculptural works that appear to be a single plane or surface until illuminated, then they reveal an unexpected image.

Chair (2014) top & Glow (2009) Perfe Takiyama Maternity Clinic - Kumi Yamashita

Dutch artist Diet Wiegman has been working with shadow art since 1965. He collects refuse and assembles piles of glass and rubble into intriguing sculptures in their own right. Once lit, Wiegman's sculptures reveal incredibly intricate and unexpected imagery. 

Growing Icon (2014) top & Shadow Dancing (2008) - Diet Wiegman

The lighting firm Attraction Lights from Minnesota produces artistic lighting in the form of bollards, pole and path lighting, that create gorgeous shadows beneath. 

Attraction Lights

Washington DC artist Jim Sanborn was recently in the news as he provided a clue to help solve the cipher incorporated into his sculpture Kryptos which is located at the CIA Headquarters. Sanborn is known for his cryptographic sculptures that grace the grounds of many universities and public institutions. 

Kryptos (1989) top & A Comma (2004) University of Houston - Jim Sanborn

I love the fun of Damon Belanger's shadow art, which doesn't need a light source at all! The whimsical and imagined 'shadows' are painted on the pavement beneath standard or utilitarian pieces of street furniture, giving them a life of their own. 

Damon Belanger - Redwood City, CA

Shadow sculpture art in the landscape has movement and changes with the position of the sun in the sky. French artist Ludovic Fesson creates stunning landscape art using organic and found materials, that have a lovely temporal nature. 

Game of Shadows top & Shadow Wants to be Water - Ludovic Fesson

There are opportunities to incorporate art within structures that cast shadows for interest or shade. I'm really fascinated by the works created by French landscape architect/ urban designer Thomas Gentilini, Tabanlioglu Architects of Turkey and New York artist Mia Pearlman 

Terrasse du musée Mucem, Marseille France - Thomas Gentilini

Soar (2016) top & Uplift (2013) commissioned works - Mia Pearlman

The transient nature of shadow in the landscape is clearly evident in Indian artist Daku's creation for the 'Life is Beautiful' festival, using the words of Shakespeare. 

See it in motion here.