Philip Vaughan

Altadena, CA, United States8 works2 exhibitionsWebsite ↗

My public sculpture has often involved the creation of virtual movement through the switching and dimming of light modules within the piece. These pieces are kinetic in that they appear to move with a smooth…

Artist

Philip Vaughan

Altadena, CA, United States

Website

About

Philip Vaughan

Philip was brought up in France the son of English parents and went to boarding school in England at the age of 9.

Philip studied architecture at Cambridge and then transferred to art school graduating from Chelsea School of Art.

While doing graduate research at Northumberland Polytechnic art school, Philip completed his first large public kinetic sculpture, the 48ft tall Neon Tower erected on the roof of the Hayward Gallery in 1972 on London?s South Bank Art Centre.

He worked for some years teaching at the City of London University while he experimented with inflatables and kinetics

Philip sailed to the US in a boat that he built himself, arriving in 1980. He now keeps that boat in Channel Islands harbor. He lives in Altadena and Oxnard, working on sculpture, drawings, paintings and public art commissions.

Most recently Philip has been building large steel sculptures at the Buffalo Creek Art Center in northern Nevada and working on neon works and paintings in his Altadena studio.

Artist statement

My public sculpture has often involved the creation of virtual movement through the switching and dimming of light modules within the piece. These pieces are kinetic in that they appear to move with a smooth action.

I have worked a lot in neon and more recently with LED lighting. The electronics that control the lighting elements animate the structure and give it the impression of movement. I have often tied these control systems to some kind of environmental factor, i.e. the movement of people in the vicinity, the wind or the light in the area. These factors are captured through electronic sensors and then translated by the control system into programming signals that change the behavior of the sculpture.

I am fascinated by structures that are geometric and yet organic, much in the way that a sunflower is both of those things at the same time. I look for these kinds of forms and patterns in nature and try to translate these into sculptural forms and into lyrical motion patterns, something hard to show convincingly in still images. At times I have also used music as another elements that will run alongside the visual motion of the work.

I generally work with a small but highly talented team of electronic engineers, mechanical and structural engineers, electronic engineers, lighting designers and specialist fabricators, when the project is too large for me to build myself. I have always loved technology and relish the opportunity to use it as a tool in the creation of an

Works