ABOUT

 

Photo by Laura Pedrick

Christopher Kennedy is a British-born visual artist. His fascination for art, photography and music began at an early age leading to a long and successful career as a music editor in the film industry.  70 feature films later, he returned to the visual arts and developed a photographic method he calls Photo Luminism, a complex technique utilizing specially constructed ‘lightscapes’ and manipulation of camera and lens during the exposure.

His large scale abstractions on aluminum and other mediums can be seen in exhibitions, private collections, public spaces and exclusive hotels and restaurants around the world.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Light, and the effect it has on everything, has fascinated me all my life. Creating images from a traveling light one cannot actually see came to me quite a few years ago. I was intrigued by the accidental images created by moving the camera during long exposures in the dark. It posed the question:  Could a technique be finessed to make viable works of art? Three months later I had the answer. 

Photo Luminism allows me to capture glorious abstractions or graphic-like subjects entirely in-camera. These purist images evolve from the construction of ‘lightscapes’ – literally landscapes of lights, with a final image in mind.  Then comes the challenging part: working out how to recreate my vision as I stand for hours in the cold and dark, rehearsing until I get it right.  There is tremendous satisfaction when I do.

My latest development takes this technique a step further. I have adapted it to work with natural light and Nature’s colors. This has opened up a whole new, exciting world, keeping my enthusiasm in top gear. Examples of these works are the Trees Revered and Passing Impressions series. 

Another creative turn has been transforming my 2-dimensional creations into internally-lit sculptures. “Exhibitionist” was a winner of the New Hope Outdoor Sculpture initiative. The process of construction of this 9 foot high, three piece behemoth, illuminated with nearly 2000 animated LEDs, was completed early 2019. “Exhibitionist” was finally installed October 2019, shortly after our return from Marsh Harbour in the Bahamas where my wife, Wendy and I survived the devastating CAT 5 Hurricane Dorian.

My wife and I now live full time on a Lagoon 43′ power catamaran called Aquatania, cruising the East coast during hurricane season and the Bahamas in the Winter months.