Raphael Lyon and Peter Blasser

From my review of Raphael Lyon (a/k/a Mudboy) and Peter Blasser's installation "Sound and Light" at Stairwell Gallery in Providence:

Raphael Lyon tells me a story about "Sound and Light," his collaborative installation with Baltimore's Peter Blasser at Stairwell Gallery (504 Broadway, Providence, through May 2). A man came by and asked how much it cost to enter the dark gallery. "He thought it was a ride," like something from a carnival, the Providence artist explains. "To me that was the greatest compliment. I'm interested in experiences. I'm not interested in objects."

The experience here is free. Enter past curtains that blackout the space. At the back of the dark room stands what looks like a giant hollow tree trunk, with a glowing, watching dragon eye floating inside. Surrounding the trunk, toward the ceiling, is a constellation of tiny purple lights that look like stars. The space pulses with electronic hums, something like whale calls, beeps, alarm horns, ghost howls. It could be a haunted wood from a fairy tale.

Read the rest here.

Raphael Lyon (lights and constructions) and Peter Blasser (sound), "Sound and Light," Stairwell Gallery, 504 Broadway, Providence, March 29 to May 2, 2009.

Pictured: Photos provided by Raphael Lyon of the installation. And at bottom videos of a mobile by Lyon similar to the one I describe here as a "dragon eye"; Mudboy performing "Dubious Liftings" in Northampton this year (more about the music here); and an installation Lyon (he made the sculpture hanging from the ceiling) made with his brother Noah (he did the drawings on the wall) in Chicago last year.