Dichroic Installations Reflect Dazzling Rainbows When Light Hits Them

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Spyra (Detail)

Artist Chris Wood has mastered the medium of light. For years, she has created dichroic arrangements that play with luminescence to produce colorful shadows and radiant reflections. Today, Wood continues this practice, crafting ethereal installations that offer “ephemeral glimpsed moments in the natural world.”

Whether a whimsical wall panel or a suspended sculpture, each work of art performs a dazzling display of color when illuminated by either a natural or artificial light source. To achieve this eye-catching aesthetic, Wood uses dichroic—a coating developed by NASA in the 1960s. “The material itself is transparent,” she explains, “however it shifts from being reflective like a golden mirror to vibrantly colored or almost transparent depending upon the viewpoint and angle of light.”

With the material's reactive nature in mind, Wood stresses the importance of installation. While she notes that the pieces shine their brightest when bathed in natural light, a nearby window is not enough to capture their full potential. “The key thing to get right is that the light falling on the panel needs to be at an angle to the dichroic pieces in order to create the best range of projections and reflections of color,” she says. “On a wall with a window to the left or right or above is perfect . . . whereas a wall with a window in front of it—not so good.”

Clearly an expert, Wood is often commissioned to create her glowing installations for all sorts of institutions, from museums and galleries to hotels and hospitals. To find out where you can find her sparkling work, stop by her website.

Artist Chris Wood creates dichroic installations that play with light and perspective to create “kinetic patterns in response to the environments in which they are placed.”

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Gloaming

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Gloaming

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Gloaming (Detail)

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Wave

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Wave (Detail)

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Wave (Detail)

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Heli

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Heli (Detail)

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Fair and Square

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Fair and Square (Detail)

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Against the Tide

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Study on Square

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Percent

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Aurora

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Aurora (Workshop View)

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Light Shower (Photo: Patrick Williams)

Dichroic Installations by Chris Wood

Opplyse (Installation Shot)

Chris Wood: Website | Instagram | Facebook  

My Modern Met granted permission to use photos by Chris Wood.

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10 Avant-Garde Artists Whose Rainbow Art Installations Will Mesmerize You

Kelly Richman-Abdou

Kelly Richman-Abdou is a Contributing Writer at My Modern Met. An art historian living in Paris, Kelly was born and raised in San Francisco and holds a BA in Art History from the University of San Francisco and an MA in Art and Museum Studies from Georgetown University. When she’s not writing, you can find Kelly wandering around Paris, whether she’s leading a tour (as a guide, she has been interviewed by BBC World News America and France 24) or simply taking a stroll with her husband and two tiny daughters.
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