Stories in Light by Bruce Munro – Art that blooms at night!

The Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California, gifted me a lyrical evening where the main protagonist was light. I got to experience a unique blend of imagination and craft, art and science, dark and light, silence and music, and fantasy and reality. British artist Bruce Munro took me away to an unknown world where darkness was a stage and light, a performer!
His creation, beautifully named Stories in Light, is an art installation that blooms at night. It gifts us wonder, beauty and joy – the intangible yet fundamental components of our life and existence.

The Montalvo Art Centers in Saratoga, California, gifted me a lyrical evening where the main protagonist was light. Click To Tweet

Exhibit – Bacchus’ Spring

This is a fountain of wine. I instantly fell in love with the concept. Transparent bottles, lights, and cables are used to tell the story of joy, wine, and reverie. The name of this exhibit – Bacchus’ Spring is inspired from Bacchus, who was the Roman god of agriculture, wine, and fertility.

British artist Bruce Munro took me away to an unknown world where darkness was a stage and light, a performer! Click To Tweet

Exhibit – Silver Sea

Imagine, suddenly on the horizon, you spot a white line, and as you get nearer and nearer, the white line turns into a sea of white lilies. This image, as created by C.S. Lewis in his book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, was the inspiration for this artwork.

When I saw this vast installation, I felt I was standing amidst a field of lilies swinging with the wind. Now when I am writing about it, that feeling washed over me again. Beauty, art and feelings subsist in us far longer, unlike things and tangible materials.

Exhibit – Reepicheep’s Wave

When I was witnessing this wave through lights and sound, I also noticed an ongoing story up in the sky. A total lunar eclipse was taking place and I saw the moon turn red, with its hue spilling onto the sky! Overall, the wave, the lights and the moon made that evening a bit more special and memorable.

 

Exhibit – Ramandu’s Table

The lights here told me a story of transition; transition from dawn to dusk.

Exhibit – The Gathering of the Clans

This is the first exhibit that I saw after entering the exhibition. This was accompanied by the sound of different birds. I felt I was walking through a rich habitat for colorful birds.

Exhibit – Reflections

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This exhibit portrays a tree that is continually growing and morphing in front of our eyes.

In Bruce Munro’s own words – “It’s when the children are in the magical world, which is called Between Worlds, and there is this sense of sunlight percolating through a canopy of green trees and this wonderful feeling of sleepiness – and its quite a dangerous place because if you stay there for long, you forget who you are and you get left behind in this wood.”

 

Exhibit – Light Shower

When I looked at the bottom of each of the elongated glass tubes, it really looked like a water droplet reflecting light. This is a permanent piece that the artist made for the Montalvo Arts Center.

Seen from below, the Light Shower also looked like fireworks suspended in space and time. Perhaps it is both. Art liberates us from the banality of the mundane and invites our minds to imagine the improbable, the unthinkable. What do you see in the Light Shower?

Art liberates us from the banality of the mundane and invites our minds to imagine the improbable, the unthinkable. Click To Tweet

• Bouquets To Art – When art blooms in San Francisco!
• Old People’s Home – Art that touches your soul!
• Mothers Imagined – A photo essay!
• Beautiful paintings in the Louvre, Paris – world’s largest museum!
• Death and Life – The famous painting by Gustav Klimt in Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria
• A lost summer

Art is an expression and it evokes feelings in us. Whenever I see art, I feel it. Art and any creative pursuit that touches us and knocks our inner self is pure joy. Click To Tweet

Travel Realizations

This art exhibition added a spark to my imagination. Art is an expression and it evokes feelings in us. Whenever I see art, I feel it. Art and any creative pursuit that touches us and knocks our inner self is pure joy.

Disclosure:  I received three press tickets for the BRUCE MUNRO AT MONTALVO, STORIES IN LIGHT exhibition. As always, all opinions are my own.

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