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Blue Sun

Image Coming Soon

Blue Sun

2016

Victoria Haven

American, born 1964

Victoria Haven’s artistic process can be understood as a form of visual recording—her drawings, prints and videos are markers of time and place that connect us, by way of association, to history and lived experiences.

Blue Sun is inspired by a recent video project where the artist filmed the radical transformation of South Lake Union from her studio window, over a ten-month period. At certain times during the year, the camera recorded unusual optical effects that made the sun appear as a blue dot. These were not natural phenomena that a viewer could see when looking at the landscape—they were effects created by the optical apparatus, resulting from the light reflected on the camera lens. As the arc of the sun progressed from winter into spring and summer, other patterns emerged from the reflections of the sun on nearby buildings in the city, creating an imaginary geography. These observations form the basis for the design of the wall drawing, which consists of a cluster of bold crystalline forms.

Blue Sun’s abstract constellation echoes in weight and volume the Olympic Mountain range to the West, and dynamically interacts with other sculptures at the park.


Acrylic
57 x 14 feet
T2016.18
location
Not currently on view

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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