Like the jagged vistas of Red Rock Canyon, Anne Patterson’s new art installation shifts under changing light and vantage point. Viewed from a distance, it appears to be a solid, blue box. As the viewer approaches, the box splinters into individual lines of multihued blues and silvers. Even closer, the piece reveals itself to be moving—strands shiver and quake like Aspen leaves, throwing light in different directions. Looking up from below, the installation soars 47 feet into the ceiling of the Venetian’s Waterfall Atrium. The piece, titled “Another Sky,” debuted on Friday and consists of 32 miles of reflective ribbon.
Patterson has a rare brain condition known as synesthesia, wherein she interprets sounds as visual stimuli. (Greats such as author Vladimir Nabokov, painter Wassily Kandinsky and musician Duke Ellington also shared this trait.) When listening to the rich strains of a cello, she saw long straight lines of color. That’s where the idea for ribbon installations was born. Patterson has created three previous ribbon installations as well as set designs, paintings and sculptures.
“Another Sky” could totally be a portal to another dimension. It’s fitting that Patterson created a similar installation for Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. The ribbons connect mere mortals to the heavens … or perhaps gamblers to their fortune.
