Light Installation Celebrates the Complex Patterns Found in Nature

Pulsating 60-Panel Light Installation Celebrates the Micro Beauty of Yellowstone National Park

By Emma Taggart on January 24, 2021

GIF: Adolfo Bueno

Inspired by the intricate patterns found in nature, Venezuelan artist Claudia Bueno created Pulse, a stunning light installation at Meow Wolf’s new exhibition space in Las Vegas. It comprises layers of white line drawings on 60 glass panels that, when illuminated, appear to move and throb like living organisms.

The inspiration for Pulse came when Bueno visited Yellowstone National Park and was fascinated by the natural landscape. However, it wasn’t the dramatic canyons or lush forests that captured her attention; she found beauty in the smaller natural structures. “It started with the microorganisms that grow inside the thermal pools of Yellowstone and evolved into an extensive exploration of organic growth patterns from micro to macro,” she explains, “molecular geometry, cellular growth, the nervous system, coral, mycelium, vegetation, and so on.”

Bueno has been exploring light and movement for the last two decades, and six of those years were spent perfecting her technique for Pulse. “Painting and drawing are a strong foundation in my work, yet I have always had a fascination for coming out of the single plane and growing into three-dimensional space,” she tells My Modern Met. “Pulse is my own version of a non-digital, hand-drawn time-lapse or animation using layers to build up volumes that move in a particular way and travel through space.”

In 2019, Bueno started looking for local artists in Idaho who wanted to help her visualize the project. She began working with a team of women who, over the course of eight months, handpainted the glass panels together in Bueno’s studio. The meditative creative process allowed the women to connect with each other as well as to their inner selves. “The studio space organically transformed into a healing container where personal sharings kept getting deeper and we supported each other in moving through whatever was present at that time,” she reveals. “This part of the process was to me beautiful and highly rewarding.”

The resulting installation transforms 2D drawings into a multi-layered 3D experience. “It has been exhilarating to see this piece come to life,” says Bueno. “What I found is portrayed in Pulse as an infinite source of luminous energy that connects everything and feeds life to all beings.”

The Pulse installation will be part of Meow Wolf’s second permanent installation, Omega Mart. Buy tickets and find out more on the Meow Wolf website.