Jae Min Lee - works

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The Ratio of Nature
Electronic and lighting installation, 2006

I researched the role of mathematical ratios in nature, and found the Fibonacci sequence. Using Fibonacci numbers, I made a lighting installation, The Ratio of Nature (2006), which has a height of 72inches, a width of 126 inches, and a depth of 2inches, and consists of eight layers. Each layer is composed of acrylic rods with light coming from them. The number and the lengths of the acrylic rods express the Fibonacci sequence: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc. There is a 1-inch rod in the first layer, a 1-inch rod in the second layer, two 2-inch rods in the third layer, three 3-inch rods in the fourth layer, and so on. Therefore, in the eighth layer, there are twenty-one acrylic rods which are 21 inches long. In addition, in each layer the duration that the rods emit light presents a difference. The higher the layer, the shorter the duration of light. Because I also wanted to show the characteristic of various elements of nature, I added different kinds of scratches to the rods as subtle forms of texture.

The Ratio of Nature represents the proportions and patterns of nature as well as a family tree. I use three identical structures to express the repetition of most elements in nature. To the viewer, my installation may seem to be one part of nature, such as a tree, or it may represent the whole of nature. Compared with two of my former works, Water Lights (2004) and The Colors of the Wind (2005), which are literally controlled by elements of nature, and which express the shapes and movements of natural surroundings emotionally, in this work I treat nature logically and mathematically by using the Fibonacci sequence. [pdf.file]

Exhibition
Gallery X, 280 S. Columbus Drive, Chicago, USA, 2006
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 112 S. Michigan Ave. 4th floor, Chicago, USA, 2006

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