Humanature - the laser art of Craig Walsh
High-tech laser technology meets mother earth
As I walked from Gypsie Avalon over to Heaven to get something to eat, I was suddenly accosted by the ghostly image of a face hovering in the trees. I will admit that this is not the first time that this has happened - I also spotted one on my way back from the All Night Fuji Rave this morning. And I can tell you, at that hour it really was a bit scary to be wandering through the woods virtually alone and encounter such a ghoulish image.
Both times I stopped in my tracks and stood stunned. But this time, I turned to the person on my right and shared my thoughts. "It kind of spooky, isn't it?" I said. To which the man on my right replied, "Yes, it's supposed to be." It turned out that he was, in fact, the artist himself - Australian Craig Walsh. Not only that, but the gentleman to his right was none other than the Japanese man who had acted as model for the work - Noriyuki Okubo.
"We're standing here waiting for the laser image to speak, " said Craig. "We haven't seen it yet."
At that point the tree man was snoring. Yes - snoring. But sure enough, in a few minutes he suddenly woke up and started to speak. It was freaky. It looked so real. Like the tree WAS the face. And, of course, that's the idea. The dialogue was about life, how short it is, like fire burning hard but dying quickly - a translation of a quote from Shakespeare's "Macbeth."
This laser project of Craig's has been an ongoing work for ten years and goes by the name Humanature - one word, one "n". He has taken it around the world to many festivals - Korea, Germany and, of course, his native Australia. This is his first time to exhibit his cleverly crafter laser art at the Fuji Rock Festival. And it is truly a fantastic - as in, fantasmagorical - addition.
Report by sisterchill
