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View Full Version : Representational Art meets Captive Reefkeeping. Living Aquatic Light Sculpture!


Aquabucket
03/22/2005, 04:21 AM
I thought I would post this here and in the main discussion board.

Sorry for the long read I hope some of you find this interesting even though it may be a bit on the personal side.

Feel free to skip to the bottom regarding my "living aquatic light sculpure" if you don't feel like reading a bit about me and my background

Some of you may know that I chose to put my art career on hold shortly after the Twin Towers Disaster. I lived in NYC at the time.

As an artist I invented numerous works utilizing ultraviolet blacklight & motion to create holographic like imagery.
Here is a link to my website (http://www.millevolte.com)

What's intersting is some of my past works portrayed a transparent illusion of being liquid in form. Some works were more holigraphic in nature. I never thought this could somehow become more prominent in my next concept.

To make a long story short my goal as an artist was to create an art form that could not be photographed, and combined light with motion. It was also important to me to create objects of beauty and works that have never been physically seen before. This lead to a desire to create an ever changing form of art.

Eventually reefkeeping became my new art form. The neon fluoresence of the corals under actinics was something I was obviously attracted to and soon made a modest living at reefkeeping of which I am grateful for.

Offers keep coming in for my art though ~ some with big payoffs.

Well I am turning down my latest offer and decided to create something entirely new ~ finally some thing beyond my past utilization of magnetism, wind/air, electric motors, and other forms to create a neon world of illusion.

Now I will turn to nature as my mechanism

"The World is Yours" by Spike Millevolte Copyright by Millevolte 2005 - all rights reserved
(I will have to start small at first)

Here are the specs:

-Tank: 24" Cube (maybe larger)
-Lighting: A combination of VHO URI actinics and HO T5 actinic/blue plus bulbs.
-LR: 16" of DIY live rock ala Garf style shaped as a globe. The globe will be achored from behind with an acrylic rod to suspend the globe in the center of the tank and give the illusion that it is floating in space.
-Corals: Green, Silver, and brown GSPs and assorted blue mushrooms.
-Substrate: Starboard
-Filtration: Carbon in an HOB, frequent WCs with NSW.
-Solar powered powerheads that will collect power from the lights (under R&D stage right now).
-Food source - Cyclope-eze
-Marine life/fish - not determed yet

The GSPs will represent the Earth's land masses and topography. The blue shrooms the earth's oceans. The coral's meticulous placement and pruning will eventually form a beautiful living representation of our planet that will glow, shimmer and sway in the current.

Before any of you start thinking Chia Pet Corals ~ please consider my background as an artist, the relevance to the world around us and even the irony with regard to the subject matter.

Anyways I am going through with this project and will be asking some of my local reefers to donate some GSPs and Shrooms.

Please feel free to add your comments ~ I suspect that purists in the hobby may be critical of my idea as it could lead to some very suspect subject matter or spur some kind of cheezy movement. Possibly even some dogs playing poker.

I will update this thread as things go along. Right now I am in the planning stages as I just came up with the idea this evening.

You can reply here or see what others are posting in the General Reef Discusion (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=4578684#post4578684)

moujon
03/22/2005, 09:21 AM
Spike- you really are quite talented! Your kinetic sculptures are very beautiful. My daughter is heading into art/computer graphics/animation. I will definitely have to show her your site. Might have to make a trip up to GB this spring.

Aquabucket
03/22/2005, 11:41 AM
Thanks, I am glad you enjoyed my site!

If you do make the trip I will invite you over to see my bonzai 30G. mixed reef along with some of my original sculptures that are displayed throughout my modest house.

z28cam
03/22/2005, 02:48 PM
Very interesting indeed Spike. I looked at your site awhile back but had no idea this was such a big part of your life. Would love to see some of your stuff in person.

And I have lots of GSP for your next masterpiece :) Cant wait to see it.

Aquabucket
03/23/2005, 11:30 AM
Thanks Joe,

Barry and yourself are invited to stop and visit me any time! I got the go ahead at the store to start the sculpture so it will be on display there for awhile. Scott (store owner) even agreed to supply a tank and other materials.

I still have not decide if I will put a fish or two in it though.

silver charlie
03/23/2005, 12:27 PM
Super great site! Spike you are a verry talented artist! I can see why you want your reef displays to become a creative artistic sculptures of your workmanship. sc