Luma (Voronoi Cellscape)
A Q&A with Trever Nicholas
By Christopher Atkins,
MAEP Coordinator
CHRISTOPHER ATKINS: You’ve said that one of your
aims is to “create phenomenological experiences.”
What does “phenomenological” mean to you?
Trever Nicholas: I think of a phenomenon as an
oddity, a marvel, something that stirs reverie in people:
clouds, mountain tops, spider webs, goose bumps. They
can be found almost anywhere: milk bubbles in your
glass during breakfast, the geometry in the microscopic
texture of your skin. A phenomenon focuses you on the
present moment. It requires you to think like a scientist
and a daydreamer.
CA: What phenomena intrigued you as a child?
TN: I can remember crawling on the grass, parting the
grass blades with my fingers to figure out what was
going on down there. And I think that kids discover
phenomena everywhere and all the time. It’s about
being open to exploring your environment wherever
you are, and it’s the role of the artist to force people to
depart from the humdrum of life. If they can discover
phenomena through art then hopefully they will again in
everyday life.
CA: So how do phenomena come through in
your work?
TN: My work draws heavily on science, which for me is
a platform for observation and discovery. I am drawn to
the physical world, the miniature/gigantic, mathematical
patterns, fractals, and symmetry. My artwork is most
effective when viewers are faced with a curiosity and
I can get them to daydream on a perplexity that draws
them in. “What is that?” “How is that possible?
“Hey, that reminds me of….”
Installation of Luma (Voronoi Cellscape),
2013, styrofoam and light
CA: Luma (Voronoi Cellscape) is a large-scale
illuminated sculptural installation made of carved
Styrofoam and back-lit with large lights. What are
you going for with this piece?
TN: I created it to be both attractive and bizarre. From a
distance, viewers will feel the soft glow of the installation,
and as they approach they will be able to read the
subtle geometry of the crystalline structures and see the
intricate patterns of the Styrofoam beads and contrasting
light densities. The term voronoi describes a way of
dividing things into blocks of space, a mathematical
technique often used in city planning, tracking the spread
of diseases, and in robot navigation. I used voronoi
techniques to develop the shapes of my sculptural
installation. When I was a child, my father brought home
a microscope and a bunch of slides, and Luma (Voronoi
Cellscape) reminds me of one of my favorite things to
look at under the microscope: salt. I’m still affected by
those childhood experiences.
CA: You talk about phenomena that “can be found
almost anywhere.” In fact, you use a different term
for this: qualia.
TN: Yes, qualia describes any observable occurrence or
experience, rather than just something special or unique.
Examples of qualia are the taste of cheese, the sensation
of putting on your socks in the morning, the sound of
rain on a tin roof. There is a complex world of science to
be observed right in the palm of my hand as I hold it up:
a conglomeration of solids, liquids and gasses supporting
an imaginary cloud of air. Not to mention microscopic
dust particles, carpet particles, and dust mites.
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Diagrams of Luma (Voronoi Cellscape)
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CA: How does this relate to your choice of materials,
like pipe cleaners, zip ties, and foam rubber?
TN: For Plug Rug (2003) I used thousands of earplugs to
create a tapestry of sorts; squished together in a grid,
the earplugs looked like a microscopic landscape of
frozen peas. For “Plastic Atmosphere” (2004) I used
100,000 blue plastic cable zip ties to create long strands
of interconnected synthetic tumbleweed. From a distance,
it looked like a gentle blue fog or nebulous plastic.
Looking closer, it resembled tightly wound brain synapses
or an industrial spider web. People were surprised at how
something so industrial could reflect the physical world
in so many ways. Humans claim to invent new processes,
techniques, and materials that improve life and sanitize
themselves from their natural environment, but then they
end up mimicking that natural environment.
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CA: How do people tend to react to your work?
TN: My objects and installations look simultaneously
mechanical and biological and can rarely be described
as one definitive thing. What one viewer calls a web,
another calls a fog, and yet another viewer calls it brain
synapses. Yet I prefer my artwork to possess simplicity.
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Chaotic elements are often rooted in patterns if you
take the time to observe them or learn how they were
created. My artwork is typically minimal in design—I
prefer to leave no loose ends that could expose the
magician and distract people from the loosely prescribed
reverie I intended.
CA: You once told me something along the lines of
“If my grandfather, my father, and my kids all walk
into my exhibition and one of them doesn’t ‘get
it,’ I’m doing it all wrong.” How do you ensure that
doesn’t happen?
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TN: It’s important for me that my artworks resonate
with a wide audience. I even imagine how they might
be perceived if I installed them in an African village!
Contemporary art can be very opaque and ignore those
who don’t have an insider’s familiarity with fine-art
trends. I’m interested in making connections with other
people and art that links our human experiences. We
are all rooted in our humanity and those commonalities
provide great platforms for creating art—for communication. I prefer that my art has the grit to challenge
daydreamers and academics alike.
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This exhibition is presented by the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program, a curatorial program
of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which features work selected by Minnesota artists. MAEP
is made possible in part by generous support from the Jerome Foundation and the McKnight
Foundation.
MINNESOTA ARTISTS EXHIBITION PROGRAM
2400 Third Avenue South | Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404 | artsmia.org
info about maep
artsmia.org/maep
Related events:
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 18 | 7–9 p.m.
Artists Talks: Thursday, August 15 | 7 p.m.
maep on facebook
facebook.com/arts.maep
Special Guests: Thursday, September 19 | 7 p.m.
maep on twitter
twitter.com/arts_maep
artist’s website
trevernicholas.com
Special thanks to Michael Winn, Dan Miller, Tasty Lighting Supply,
Mike and Patt Pearson, Dave Palm, and many others at Atomic
Props who made this exhibition possible.
Cover and Left: Detail of Luma (Voronoi Cellscape)