Lotus Room
RGB light and color light therapy in Lotus Room environment
Red, Blue, Yellow. Primary colors you learn to mix in grade school. But what if you mixed red with green and got yellow? That is what happens with spectral color- RGB color that I use in my light environment, Lotus Room.
The RGB color model is additive in the sense that the three light beams are added together, and their light spectra add, wavelength for wavelength, to make the final color’s spectrum
The RGB color model is based on the Young–Helmholtz theory of trichromatic color vision, developed by Thomas Young and Hermann Helmholtz, in the early to mid nineteenth century, and on James Clerk Maxwell’s color triangle that elaborated that theory (circa 1860).
The normal three kinds of light-sensitive photoreceptor cells in the human eye (cone cells) respond most to yellow (long wavelength), green (medium), and violet (short) light (peak wavelengths near 570 nm, 540 nm and 440 nm, respectively). The difference in the signals received from the three kinds of light waves allow the brain to differentiate a wide gamut of different colors, while being most sensitive to yellowish-green light and to differences between hues in the green-to-orange region.
In Lotus Room- I started by exploring the use of spectral color in “painting” my 3-d line sculptures. Working with spectral color, I researched and borrowed ideas about color light therapy and its effects on the human psyche– I love blue- but why? And what does blue do for me when I look at it mentally as well as physically? This exploration of color light therapy takes my art beyond the pretty surface factor to one of… well, Ill let you decide. To read more detail of color light therapy see the below article that gives a brief history as well as a color chart and Chakra listing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromotherapy
For you skeptics here is a short article from the Mayo clinic about light therapy:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/light-therapy/MY00195
Lotus room utilizes dmx led lights (lights that are addressable and therefore programmable). David Neale and Brad Littiken of BUYLEDS are my source for these lights as well as experts in helping to program the algorithms and sequences I use in Lotus Room.
Pulse all the lights so the show begins all white- use quick changes like quick editing in movies to stimulate/disturb the eye/mind. Focus on colors of warmth, then slowly bring the warm colors to a slower, more peaceful pace before moving color into cooler, tranquil colors. I like this form of painting because its fluid and full of motion.
The end of the nineties and the first decade of this century saw the rise of the media room and the boom of the entertainment escape. Can a light room with programmable lights be the next big thing for aging boomers who embrace technology to improve health and quality of life?
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