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We catch up with Liz West

To mark the release of her latest limited edition ‘Pick and Mix’, we catch up with artist Liz West to find out about her new exhibition Our Colour Reflection at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and her festive installation Fluorescence at Kings Cross’ Granary Square.

Liz West at her exhibition, Our Colour Reflection at YSP. Photo credit: ©Jonty Wilde

Q: Hi Liz, it’s great to catch up! You have a very exciting exhibition launching this month, could you tell us a little bit about it?

A: Our Colour Reflection at Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s historic Chapel is a site-responsive and immersive light installation, comprising over 700 individual coloured mirrored discs set at different heights and set upon the floor covering the entire space. The play of light cast onto the surrounding walls changes depending on the time of day and the weather conditions outside, as orbs of colour are reflected from the mirrors and thrown upwards onto the Chapel ceiling and walls.

I have been a visitor to YSP since I was a baby, as I grew up just a few miles away. I have seen the Park change and grow over the past 40 years (even working part-time as a gallery invigilator in my teens) and had always hoped that one day I might have the opportunity to exhibit there.

Liz West in her exhibition Our Colour Reflection at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Photo Credit: ©Jonty_Wilde
Our Colour Reflection at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Photo Credit: ©Jonty_Wilde
Our Colour Reflection at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Photo Credit: ©Jonty_Wilde

Q: Alongside this, you have collaborated with K&M to publish a new limited edition titled Pick and Mix. What are the themes behind this piece and how does it connect to your installation at YSP?

A: Our Colour Reflection at YSP and the Pick and Mix print are both joyful celebrations of colour. Both works stem from the same thought process; a desire to systematically order and an instinctive (and deep) understanding of colour and colour theory. Within these premises, the works become about our own relationships to colour, how colour can change space, and how colour and light together can evoke sensory reactions.

As a child I used to love nothing more than a new pack of coloured pens; they offered potential and endless fun - whether it was using them for drawing, or ordering them into the spectrum! That joyful and systematic sentiment has stuck with me into adulthood and is woven into my life and work as an artist. Pick and Mix is an ode to my younger creative self, and a playful testing ground for colour.

Pick & Mix, limited edition

Q: Do you have any other upcoming projects that you’re able to share with us?

A: I am delighted that I have been commissioned to make this year’s Festive Winter installation at Kings Cross’ Granary Square. Fluorescence is a 10.7 metre high tetrahedron adorned with neon-bright coloured stripes that wrap the entire structure. This ‘alternative Christmas Tree’ will have both a daytime and nighttime presence, glowing with UV light in the darker hours and glowing with vibrant fluorescent colour during the day.

Liz West: Our Colour Reflection is open now – Sun 5 Jan 2025 at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Learn more.

Fluorescence installation at King’s Cross’ Granary Square open now – Fri 28 Feb 2025. Learn more.

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