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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
Brazilian-photographer Vitor Schietti uses fireworks to create images of illuminated trees and dancing patterns in his series "Impermanent Sculptures." To produce the images, the artist sets off fireworks at twilight. When the light is just right, Schietti uses a long exposure camera. The effect is semi-painterly and always captivating. The method comes from the artist's interest in the moment of change or transformation, as well as the sociological question of how microscopic elements reflect the greater, macroscopic world. To this effect, the trees ablaze represent dual destruction and illumination. Though people and governments take climate change under serious consideration, we continue to destroy our shared environment. The burning tree is an all-too common phenomena in an age of extreme weather and drought, but it is also an ancient symbol shared across cultures. Captured in a photograph by Schiette, the burning tree inspires ominous feelings of both awe and doom. 
Based in Marseille, French artist Etienne Rey creates sculptures and installations using light and mirrors. His site-specific installations respond to their physical spaces, creating unique situations. Rey's sculptures alter the conditions of their environments, changing, reflecting and refracting the light and sense of space. Motivated by a curiosity about the consciousness and science of direct experience, Rey uses his artworks to question and reveal the intricacies of human interaction and organization. As moving objects, Rey's sculptures are also bodies in space and one must negotiate how to move among these objects in the same way one approaches or avoids other persons.
Christine Wu's (covered here) art draws emotional tension from its soft, tonal palette and sketchy layers. She guides the viewer's eye with detailed points of interest and spots of colored light. Fundamentally, warm light might imply comfort, cheerful emotions, while cool hues imply something more mysterious. Wu intentionally manipulates the light and color of a scene to achieve a variety of effects. Her next series of paintings is inspired by morning light. She will exhibit these with Kyle Stewart, Hannah Yata, and Melissa Haslam at Parlor Gallery, opening September 13th. We visited her new studio in Los Angeles for a preview.