Rahpael Daden

 Raphael Daden

Daden is a Nottingham based sculpture specialising in light for over 10 years. He utilises 'raw' lighting such as LEDs, Neon and other light sources and materials. 

His first commission was on West Street in Brighton where he made a series of large illuminated 'cones'. 

They are made from layers of coloured translated polyester resins, and illuminated by lights inside the cores of the structures. The gradient of colour and light in each cone was done to emulate the effects of the sunset on the Brighton sea front.

I believe that the imagery of cones is perfect for this project. The point of it being, to celebrate the development of the city, which utilises thousands of orange cones to warn civilians of construction or dangers in their path. Next, the placement of this piece fits perfectly. They are situated on a central reservation on a very busy road, places notorious for being covered in cones. The sculptures were surrounded smaller versions of themselves during creation, and I feel they perfectly capture the essence of these objects, whilst filling the city with beauty and imagination.

He talks about how 'both light and colour have the power to transform mood, atmosphere and meaning, generating an immediate and powerful response from the viewer.' He further explains how the constant and overpowering presence of light and colour in the modern world causes people to become numb to it all and how his sculptures 'abstract coloured light from its commercial function and in doing so emphasis their uniqueness'. What I think he means by this is instead of using bright neon colours to advertise products or a shop window, he is using it draw attention to art. Something that people can so easily walk past without noticing nowadays, and this shows me that sometimes to be noticed, you have to use the very thing that is competing against you, in this case, light. 

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