In artist Jun Ong’s luminous installations, rays of sunshine pierce by concrete, stone, and metal. In his ongoing Stars collection options LED strips that intersect with the human-built setting in monumental, illuminated geometries.
Ong’s newest piece, “HALO,” depends on an present architectural construction to offer a site-specific framework. Beams of sunshine seem to permeate stone and concrete, concurrently contained by the buildings but impervious to their solidity.
Exploring themes of time and house, “HALO” radiates from throughout the Xiu De Bai Pavilion, a former Buddhist temple in Yan Shui, Tainan, Taiwan. “Built in 1919, the temple has history tracing back to the Qing dynasty and was pivotal in supporting the community,” Ong says.
“Light in Buddhism is an important metaphor for enlightenment—the awakening or the understanding of truth,” says an announcement from YueJin Artwork Museum. Simply as Buddha, along with sacred figures in different religions, is commonly portrayed with a shiny aura or halo across the head or physique, Ong envisions the burst of sunshine as a way of illuminating our environment and our previous.
“HALO” builds upon a piece titled “STAR/BUTTERWORTH,” which he put in in Penang, Malaysia, in 2015. The artist was impressed by the idiosyncratic designs of Buckminster Fuller, like his geodesic domes, and M.C. Escher’s optical illusions.
He says, “Using only two materials—tensile steel cables and LED strips—I manipulated light and architecture to create a colossal object that seemingly burst out of the building like a glitch in time.”
For “HALO,” Ong created a starburst type that will also be interpreted as a hoop of sunshine, reimagining a 2022 piece referred to as “STAR/KL,” which he put in in brutalist inside in Kuala Lumpur. “I hope that the Star series continues to emerge across different cities and cultures and possibly also in interesting terrains, like caves, the desert, or even forests,” Ong says.
Commissioned by for the 2024 Yuejin Artwork Museum Competition, “HALO” stays on view by February 16. If you happen to’re in The Netherlands, it’s also possible to see Ong’s piece “POLARIS” on view as a part of the Amsterdam Gentle Competition by January 19. Discover extra on the artist’s web site and Instagram.
