SolArt-Art-Nicoloff

Spectralwave is a sculpture that resembles a wave about to crest.
	Its curved planes are structurally derived from the daily and annual movements of the sun. Precisely mounted on the upper edge of each curved plane are two prisms that project an expanded spectrum.As the sun moves across the sky, the spectra move up, down and diagonally along several curves.
They appear in the central region of the sculpture in the summer and at each end in the winter. The sculpture, therefore, functions as a classic, scientific illustration combining the physical laws of optics and the movement of the sun.
Spectralwave is permanently located at the lawrence hall of science, University of California, Berkeley, 1994.
Together with his wife Martha, Alex Nicoloff, based in Berkeley, California, creates environments consisting of sunlight, prisms, the spectrum and sound. They convert scientific principles and technological innovation into a variety of aesthetic formats. Their focus involves the organization in video of visual energies released by means of improvisation and orchestration. Among their videotapes of solar spectrum painting are: Mouth of the Rainbow, 20 min., 1985; Orbiting in the Spectrum, 18 min., 1986; Orchestrations in the Afternoon, 3 min., 1991; Em-bodiments of Morning Sunlight, 2 min., 1991; One Pass Encounters, 10 min., 1994.