Image: LENNOX

Picture a mural transforming before your eyes. You would assume it must be digital, a projected image, but you look closely and see that it’s not. It’s a painting that is being changed by air.

That’s what you can expect to see if you head to The Container Yard in the arts district of Downtown Los Angeles for the Degrees of Perfect exhibition, presented by Lennox, on June 24, 2016.

It’s an idea so new that at first it felt impossible. Even those who have been involved since its inception are amazed to see it come to fruition.

We spoke to some of the collaborators on the project to find out more about how this first-of-its-kind exhibition came to be.

Ideation: Degrees of Perfect
What does perfect feel like for you?

It’s not the same for everyone. But, in reflecting on the question, the team involved with the project noticed one important similarity across their unique visions of perfect: balance.

For Fluke, president at ASHOP CREW and the lead creative producer on the project, perfect is a balance that allows for creative productivity. He describes it as “having the perfect environment and the perfect elements around you in order to be creative and to be able to express yourself…. It’s the perfect lighting, the perfect sound.”

“It’s the air that is the perfect temperature; it’s not too hot and not too cold,” answered Kyle Mitchell, associate creative director at GSD&M. “It’s a world where all these things come together to create something brand new.”

With this in mind, the team set out to create something that would communicate the Degrees of Perfect idea. To do this, the creative team looked to two seemingly opposite worlds and worked to bring them together in harmony.

“It’s a balance between engineering and the piece of art,” Fluke explains. “We have two completely separate universes that come together to create something unique and present it in the format of an exhibition.”

The team had a lofty vision for that exhibition: paintings that used air as a medium.

At first, the idea felt almost too lofty. “One of the biggest challenges for me was the fact that this was just a huge theory. The idea of having a color-changing art piece, forget having a color-changing mural, it was just a big theory that Kyle and me were kicking around.”

The science
Any traces of doubt were erased as the dedicated team of specialists got to work, solving one puzzle at a time.

The paint, designed to react to changing temperatures, was the first part and, surprisingly, the easiest. “It’s super simple. The paint itself is designed to disappear at a certain temperature, and it’s programmed in laboratories. It’s really designed that way chemically. The problem is that it’s not a precise science, so it changes at different temperatures.”

Fluke explains.

(Image: LENNOX)

In order for this paint to detect the temperature change two things had to be engineered: a heat-detecting canvas and a unique HVAC system.

“First I asked Fluke what temperatures he needed, that was the most important thing.” Alain Savard, Founder and Owner of Climatisation – premier Lennox dealer, explains, “I took those two temperatures, and we calculated how much time it is going to take to make the panel react.”

From there, the team tested numerous frames and canvases—small at first, then progressively larger. “We put aluminum in the front and really good insulation in the front’ Alain explains. “We played with it a lot. I don’t know how many [we made].”

Creating the perfect air was the next challenge. Lennox systems are designed to do exactly this, so the team knew it was possible, but the project called for a completely unique HVAC system.

“The genius behind this,” Fluke explains, “was that Alain was able to give us a closed circuit, so we’re not wasting any energy. We’re actually recycling the same air over and over again, which is something I had not thought of. That’s where his expertise really came into place, he said, ‘We can’t waste this hot air or cold air; let’s recycle it.’

The art
With the paint, canvas and perfect air in order, the team set out to find artists who were up to the challenge.

Image: LENNOX

“One of the things that was remarkable was to see the reactions that the [artists] were having when we expressed to them that they were able to add an extra layer to their work.” Fluke tells us.

“[As artists] we’re essentially telling a story, visually, and one of the main challenges of the visual artist, as a painter, as a muralist, is that you’re trying to tell a story, you’re trying to share an emotion, but you only have one layer.”

He continues, “There hasn’t been a traditional painting form where you can add a second layer, an animation, so we essentially gave the artist’s 50% more opportunity to express themselves.” Fluke explains.

That said, ASHOP CREW and Lennox wanted the crème de la crème: the people who could master this new medium of thermal art and use that second layer to help creatively communicate the Degrees of Perfect idea.

“We chose very talented people from different areas. We have artists from Montreal, Toronto and a local from L.A.” Fluke explained. “The one thing they have in common is that they’re street artists, they know one surface to a certain extent, which is murals. They’ve all painted live scale murals and they’ve done so much work in the public eye. We wanted to give them an opportunity to take something they’re already doing and bring it to another level, another degree.”

With the air and the thermal art sorted, there was just one final layer: sound. The team chose recording artist and producer Toro y Moi to DJ on the night. Not only is Toro y Moi extremely talented and enthusiastic about the project, he is a graphic designer, artist and illustrator himself, so he has a deep understanding of the work that’s gone into the project.

The result
On Friday, June 24, at 8:00 p.m., the results of this incredible project will be showcased at The Container Yard in Downtown L.A.

By Lennox

Source: Mashable