Puff (Lightbox), 2020. Plywood, primed MDF boards, epoxy resin, Plastikote spray enamel (Night Blue), Rustoleum Universal brush on enamel, PVC profile, 4 x 3/8” screws, M4 nuts & bolts, bearings, Opal diffuse Perspex, Duratrans print, museum Plexiglass, acrylic tubes, clear PVC, vinyl tape, 3D printed PLA components, JGY-370 DC motor, LED strips, wiring, 12V power supply. 58.5 x 33 x 10 cm.

Have you ever seen those animated waterfall pictures? There’s one in a Chinese takeaway near us. They’re all at once a lamp, a strangely static motion picture, and they’re as kitsch AF.  

The image is a virtual photograph generated as CGI in Blender, printed as a Duratran, sandwiched in-between two pieces of Perspex and mounted as a light-box. I made it initially as the cover for something else I’m working on. It can be in two places at once. Stay tuned.

Inside’s where the action is; a motor rotates a pair of acrylic tubes at 25rpm, which in turn revolves a looped belt of clear PVC covered in evenly spaced 10° diagonal vinyl strips. As the vinyl rolls just below the surface, their translucent shadows are rear projected by the LEDs and the still waters seem to ripple. The dollar store illusion broken only by a mechanical drone.

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