Drip Cascade
Drip Cascade is Stark’s homage to the psychedelic era. The artist’s signature drips, characterized by oozing forms with contoured bands of color, steadily trickle down the wall. Subtle vibrations of rhythmic pulses coupled with the hypnotic cascade effect, create what Stark calls “psychedelic camouflage,” an immersive veil that unlocks sacred geometries from the natural and spiritual realm.
Strobe Wall
Strobe Wall is an interactive musical mural, consisting of undulating geometric shapes and pulsating hues, that showcases Stark’s fascination with Op art and color theory. Here, both of these artistic interests are reflected in the chromatic tension that arises from the juxtaposition of complementary colors of equal intensity. This push and pull effect is further accentuated when the circles, squares, triangles, and diamonds are activated by the touch of a hand, which causes the shapes to reverse direction and change in tonality.
Space Junk
Space Junk is inspired by Katamari Damacy, a 2004 Japanese puzzle-action video game where players are tasked with rolling an adhesive ball through various urban locations, collecting increasingly larger objects until it has grown enough to be transformed into a star. Evoking these simple yet beautiful mechanics, the shapes in this intergalactic room function in a similar manner. As the abstract forms hit the ground they magnetize to the viewer’s feet, like a satellite or asteroid being pulled into a planet’s orbit, strobing and revolving autonomously while they accumulate beneath the viewer. When two technicolor clouds of space junk collide they omit a symphony of tones that are reminiscent of kalimba chimes and wooden drums.
Portal
While Stark’s visual lexicon has become most synonymous with her vibrant drips and alien forms, portals have been prevalent since the onset of her practice when she was making sculptures out of colored construction paper and wood. In these early works, inspired by enigmatic black holes, the viewer felt as if they were on the cusp of entering another dimension, but not fully inside one. Projections on the walls and floor create the sensation of flying inside a spinning vortex, making this Stark’s most immersive portal to date. In addition to space and time travel, Portal indirectly references geological formations, topographical maps, and patterns in evolution.
KALEIDOSCOPIC WATERFALL
The three-dimensional renderings in Kaleidoscopic Waterfall resemble a viscous liquid rather than projected colored light, making this environment stand apart from all the others in Cascade. Inside this chamber, Stark explores what happens to a liquified pattern when it slides, swirls, and congeals into an amorphous blob. Stark’s study concludes with the puddle morphing into kaleidoscopic mandalas straight out of a hallucination.
Rainbow Cycle
For Rainbow Cycle, Stark set out to create a collaborative sonic experience that mimics the sounds of a Tibetan singing bowl, an ancient meditation instrument that invokes a deep state of relaxation and regeneration. Upon entering the undulating rainbow of healing light and color, the viewer’s aura manifests as a bubble of inverted colors and is imprinted with it’s own unique musical note. This note gets louder closer to the center of the room and quieter in the periphery. As viewers fill the room, their distinct auras create an orchestra of human interaction.
