Cliff Baldwin Explores, And Projects, Language Of Light

Trains in Berlin. The Eiffel Tower in Paris. Carnivals in Jamesport and Greenport. Times Square in Manhattan. Neon in Warsaw and Kansas City.Each possesses light in different forms—simple and straightforward, or fast-moving and chaotic. But, by definition, all light is, technically, a natural agent visible to the human eye that is responsible for the sense of sight.

And it absolutely fascinates Aquebogue-based artist Cliff Baldwin.

In 2012, he premiered and projected his film “The Language of Light” onto the side of an immense building at the InLight Festival in Richmond, Virginia. For six hours, he performed the piece in real time for a public audience, who could walk and move in front of the film, interacting with the captured footage, original score and his use of light language, chock full of double-entendres—“body,” “nipple” and “hickey,” to name a few.

The piece he will bring to the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill on Friday night will be no different—just on a smaller scale.

“My wife and I have a lighting business, so that makes me think about light all the time, but I consider myself to be an artist first,” he said on Monday morning at the Parrish Art Museum. “And film is all about light on a wall, just projected light. So it’s a natural thing for me. Light is interesting that way. It’s very flexible.”

Mr. Baldwin’s live film, which will run for about 45 minutes this time around, is much like a DJ performance, such as those put on by Avicii or Armin van Buuren. A mini-controller is linked to Mr. Baldwin’s laptop, he explained, which stores every audio and visual clip. Then, it’s simply a matter of choosing the order. “It’s pretty much improvisational film,” he said. “That’s what it boils down to.”

Accompanied by a musical score produced by what Mr. Baldwin calls the Aquebogue Orchestrion—a digital, musical sculpture built from a computer, colored metal and glass, and programmed by the artist much like an updated, 19th-century jukebox—the live-action clips are intermixed with found footage and light language, which tumble, flip, spin, explode and slide through the film.

This is simply a new way of seeing, Mr. Baldwin said, without agenda or narrative.

“It’s really just enjoying the moment,” he said. “It’s about enjoying the sound, the lights, the words, the images, the places. It’s a visual experience and an aural experience. It’s not so much about a story. You’re not going to take away any huge messages, necessarily.”

It was at the Kansas City Art Institute where Mr. Baldwin discovered his present-day artistic inspiration: the Fluxus movement, a loosely organized group of artists that spanned the globe, though they had a strong presence in Manhattan. Described as “a fusion of Spike Jones, gags, games, Vaudeville, Cage and Duchamp” by founder George Maciunas, the movement promoted the availability of art to the masses—in both production and consumption—and Fluxus artists did not believe in museums determining the value of art, much like the Futurists and Dadaists before them.

It can be difficult to define Fluxus itself, considering to define it is, in fact, too limiting and simplified.

“Yoko Ono was one of these artists. It’s just film at its very core,” he said. “Just stripped down, everything thrown away and just the film itself. I like when everything is thrown out and you have just the primary thing you need—just enough, not too much—with a sense of humor.”

Cliff Baldwin will perform “The Language of Light” on Friday, January 9, at 6 p.m. at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill. Tickets are $10, or free for members, children and students. Space is limited and reservations are recommended. For tickets and more information, call (631) 283-2118, or visit parrishart.org.