Skip to main content

Kevin Killen

downpatrick
I’m a visual artist currently sculpting with neon light, my work investigates unseen boundaries and capture movements
Contact
Links

My practice is the creation of neon light sculptures and installations, often site-specific. I physically make the neon myself and this process of controlling the neon is very much part of the work. While different bodies of work have very separate theories behind them, the connection is my desire to use light to translate movement into tangible sculptural forms. 

The most recent body of work, Infinity Studies: Monotony, draws on time and motion studies, as investigated by Frederick Winslow Taylor (time) and Frank and Lilian Gilbreth (motion), that document the time it should take to complete a process and how breaking down the process into components and removing unnecessary ones increases efficiency. Looking at the number of repetitive tasks my wife performs to look after our three children and the house, I created an immersive box to simulate the claustrophobia felt by my wife at the never-ending nature of her tasks. 

Another project, Cartography - Tipping Point, used a camera to map “light paintings” of the city that I then translated into neon sculptures. Part of the process was to record the sounds of the city to match with the sequence of neon, creating a “living” sculpture that recorded the life of the city. 

The series Human Movement - Certain Moments created light compositions tracing the movement of a dancer, with the resulting neon sculptures embodying the kinetic energy of the performance. As with many of my works, the breath of the subject was important, with the sequencing of lights designed to match the inhalation rhythms of the dancer.

 

Become a member

We support our members with: insurance, networks, space, opportunities, R&D awards, profiling, advice and mentoring.
Become a member