When he left college he started working with light and moved to Nottingham. He said he used what he learnt at college i.e. resin and used the medium of light. 3 years after leaving college he got into public art with his first piece known as the Cones on Brighton's West Street. He applied for a commission of £20,000 after seeing the request in Artists Newsletter. Public art had started to take off at round the same time as he created the cones.
http://www.raphaeldaden.co.uk/One hospital project that he worked on was large walls of coloured light - just one colour per wall in the waiting areas.
http://www.raphaeldaden.co.uk/commissionsRaphael said that he works with other skilled professionals i.e. steel workers or electricians to produce to his work.
He started working on neons and designed them and then had them produced by a neon company. Perspex laser cutting was also one of his projects and this is currently showing at Shire Hall, Stafford. He has also created work for festivals including Latitude where he created gigantic cubes of dots through which words can be seen. .
Raphael has done work for a broad range of clients not just public art. He has creaed work for a solicitors in Nottingham, an office building in London, and an underpass in London (shown below) which when you walk through the lighting changes colour.
Raphael talked us through the process of a public art commission which was the Belfast Hospital project. A light artist was sought and he obtained the brief, gathered information and send off his application and a shortlist was made. He had to go for interview and present his ideas. He had to work with architects and engineers relating the weight and structure of his installation, a lighting company, have regular meetings. As installation was nearing, he sent the resin casts to Belfast on crates that he said he had skimped a little to try to save money on, and it was to backfire because the structures had warped slightly during transportation so they had to be sent back to him, and fortunately, he could reheat the structures and they went back to their original mould. The lesson he said was not to cut costs or corners.
Below is the finished structure in the hospital, and the resin mould
The above photograph was taken during the process of creating the casts for the installation. The process is set out below. The reason I am interested in the process is because this piece reminded me instantly of my beach and mud flats photographs so I thought I might be able to use this as inspiration.
Sea Pattern’ was created by taking plaster casts of different patterns from the seabed of the surrounding coastline of Northern Ireland. Casts were taken back to my studio and silicon moulds made and re-cast in translucent clear resin. These were then constructed into a steel light box and LED lighting added to illuminate the clear casts. (http://www.raphaeldaden.co.uk/commissions/sea-pattern-process)
Another interesting lecture and an insight into the life of a practicing artist.
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