Nathaniel Rackowe

About

Conceived specifically for the upper gallery, Luminous Territory (2007) is a rectangular structure that almost fills the space, orchestrating the routes of access around its enclosed perimeter. Here, Rackowe uses generic building materials: scaffolding and hoardings draw direct association to changing urban landscapes; the structure's orange base references the colour of building works local to the artist's house and studio; and the industrial sheeting that enwraps the work is common in construction. While the structure creates volumetric displacement within the gallery due to the dominance of its exterior surface, its interior activity is also clearly visible. Flickering light cast from the interior of Luminous Territory evokes the dysfunction of vast abandoned urban spaces. Although apparently random, the light is in fact carefully choreographed via dozens of fluorescent lights that flicker into life one by one, slowly animating the static structure.

Located in the lower gallery, Sliced Door Four (2007) discloses a comparable agenda of internalised space. Its sliced doors both enforce and stand against the binary structure of their manufacture. Open or closed, here the doors are both and neither. Multiple shafts of light generated from a single source radiate along lines of rupture and repair.

Black Cube (2007) is a dark totemic mass that seems to absorb the light emitted by the other works. Corrugated bitumen roofing sheets are sliced, stacked and bolted together echoing the deconstructive, reconstructive nature of Slice Door Four.

A shaft of light spilling from WLP4 ( 2007) cuts the final gallery space in two. Through a slit in the black structure, a powerful light bulb slowly increases in intensity. The orange internal surfaces intensify the light spilling out, extending the boundary of this work beyond its physical limits.