MICHAEL C. McMILLEN

"The Hidden Eye"

click to learn more about a camera obscura

McMillen has selected a variety of figurative objects that represent a range of cultures, time periods, and values. The artist will create an upside-down image of three of the selected works that will be presented on large flats on the LACMA West Green at subsequent intervals. Flower beds surround the flats, creating an inviting public-art space. The actual objects (except Portrait of George Washington, which will be replaced with an image of the work) are displayed in a vitrine at the entrance to the installation, a walk-in camera obscura. The camera captures the outside, upside-down image on the flats through a lens in the wall and projects the correctly oriented images into the interior (on a table and on a wall) enabling visitors to then trace the images. The drawings can be displayed on the outside wall of the installation. The camera obscura closes at sunset, emphasizing the role of light in the process of seeing.

LACMA objects: Standing Warrior Wearing Patterned Shirt West Mexico, Nayarit, Ixtlan del Rio style, c. 100 B.C.-A.D. 500 Ceramic with burnished red-brown slip and black-and-white painted decoration The Proctor Stafford Collection, museum purchase with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Allen C. Balch Photo ©2001 Museum Associates/LACMA M.86.296.12 Funerary Sculpture of a Chimera (Bixie)  China, Eastern Han dynasty, A.D. 25–220  Molded earthenware with traces of paint Gift of Elly Nordskog and family in memory of Bob Nordskog Photo ©2001 Museum Associates/LACMA AC1997.1.1 Buddha Shakyamuni Sri Lanka, 16th century Brass with pigment Gift of Michael Phillips and Juliana Maio Photo ©2001 Museum Associates/LACMA AC1994.232.2 Jean-Antoine Houdon Portrait of George Washington (1732–1799) c. 1786 Marble Purchased with funds provided by Anna Bing Arnold Photo ©2001 Museum Associates/LACMA M.76.106 Mummy Mask of a Woman Egypt, late 2nd-4th century A.D. Plaster and glass Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James Sanders Photo ©2001 Museum Associates/LACMA M.80.201.1

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