Neon, painted plywood, painted aluminium
2015-2017
79 3/4” diameter

Raphaele Shirley’s sculpture, 4 and 6 double is comprised of two flat painted disks and a circular exposed neon ring, playing with the dynamic tension of the two juxtaposed mediums of painting and sculpture. This low-relief work, quasi two-dimensional, and presented within a simplicity of means, such as “poured gold paint, neon, wood, dark flat paint” resonates into space as a suspended object of unfathomable dimensions, appearing as a floating orb in an infinitely dark sky. The work also plays between the perception of representation and abstraction as its visual language points in the direction of cosmology as well as towards the genre of minimal abstract paintings from 60’s or 70’s. In this way, by means of simplicity, Shirley sets into motion a dialogue between multiple opposites. The work, altered by ambient light, is a graceful, ever-evolving investigation in resonance.