Lucy Bell Fine Art presents an exhibition of recent works by Kirsten Reynolds that includes photographic light drawings made in New Zealand, Greece and Norway as well as paintings from the on-going series The Illusion of Democracy. Reynolds’ practice includes drawing, sculpture, painting, photography and the creation of sound and light installations.

The exhibition includes many of her new light drawings. The series Quantum Discord was made in and around the decaying structures of an abandoned 1970s holiday camp in Galatas, Greece. On a recent residency in Norway, Reynolds embraced the visual and historical resonances of the area working in and around disused defence bunkers. Another series Accelerating Stillness was made during a night spent alone on the island of Hjertøya, also in Norway, where the artist Kurt Schwitters was exiled for a large part of the 1930s.

Preferring to work off the beaten track, Reynolds uses locally significant locations to make her light drawings. This technique uses moving light sources during a long exposure and was developed in the late nineteenth century for both scientific and artistic purposes. Man Ray was one of the first artists to explore this practice in his 1935 series Space Writing. Whilst this technique has been much used by artists over the years, Reynolds has developed a unique approach and her background in music and sound art makes her physical response to the chosen location both compelling and powerful.

Reynolds has exhibited worldwide from the Hayward Gallery in London for Sonic Boom; The Art of Sound, the first international exhibition of Sound Art, to the Sydney Festival with Power Plant, in which five artists present over thirty site-specific sound and light installations in a Botanic Garden. Power Plant has won critical acclaim at major arts festivals around the world. Reynolds is currently working on a new large-scale Power Plant event for the Auckland Arts Festival 2017.