Jewels of Kvinesdal

Opening November 7, 2009 3pm-8pm
Press preview November 6, 2009 1pm-5pm
Exhibition dates: November 9, 2009 - April 7, 2010

Jewels of Kvinesdal
A multi-media sculpture and miniature landscape set on the main stage of the Utsikten Kunstsenter's outdoor arena, overlooking the Kvinesdal fjord.  

R. Shirley's outdoor art installation Jewels of Kvinesdal evokes a utopian, phantasmagoric world inspired by contemporary and ancient architecture, science fiction in literature and film, the Vest-Agder Nowegian countryside and by Viking era artifacts and history.

The installation will be composed of handcrafted cast resin, silicone, cement, and wax sculptures of variable sizes (from 40 cm to 5 cm high and wide), architectural spotlights and a heated 9 meters in diameter mirror-base. The red, amber, yellow, copper and gold sculptures will evoke utopian dwellings, fragments of ancient civilizations, abstractions of Viking artefacts and activities.
Located on the Kunstsenter's outdoor stage, it will be installed like a miniature theater-set staged against the stunning backdrop of the Kvinesdal fjord, viewable from up close and, from a distance from the nearby hills and valley.

The natural surroundings will further transform the piece thanks to the reflective surface upon which the cast sculptures sit, jewel-like. As the weather around the fjord changes, so too will the art work's surface, creating a world-within-a-world in the fjord's vast landscape. By day the sculpture will appear to float like a magical city on a sky-reflecting lake.  As darkness falls, spotlights will illuminate the sculpture and bounce off the mirror, casting an aura of light around the piece like a lighthouse or a fire. The whole  becoming a luminous well in which to gaze, shimmering under the starry night, visible from all sides of the Kunstsenter and Kvinesdal valley.


Jewels of Kvinesdal will be on View from November 7, 2009 - April 7, 2010.