Ivan Navarro “Heaven or Las Vegas” Exhibition

For “Heaven or Las Vegas,” Chilean artist Ivan Navarro has created a series of fluorescent light wall sculptures based on the floor plans of twelve of the world’s most well known skyscrapers, including the Flatiron Building in New York, the Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai and The Center in Hong Kong. These monumental buildings were chosen for the ambitious innovations in design and engineering that were required to construct them and for their importance to the historical spread of Western-style development across the globe. Through a positioned play of mirrors and lights, viewers have the experience of looking up into the interior elevation of each building, many of which tower more than 1,000 feet high in actuality. Within each work, Navarro has incorporated significant words or phrases like SURRENDER, RESIST and YOU SAY YES, which echo like suggestions or commands through each structure’s illusory depth. “Heaven or Las Vegas” recently opened on March 3 and will be running through April 2, 2011 at the Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York City.