22 October - 23 December, 2021
Chris Levine
'528 HZ LOVE FREQUENCY'
The Exhibition
Chris Levine's exhibition, '528 Hz Love Frequency', marked the inaugural winter show in our historic grounds and featured a series of his latest holographic artworks, print works, and large immersive laser and LED installations. This work was specifically created for the unique environs of the house and grounds, showcasing Levine’s characteristic and cutting-edge exploration of the meditative and immersive properties of light and sound.
The centrepiece of the Houghton Hall show, '528 Hz Love Frequency', was a monumental spherical structure titled 'Molecule of Light', situated on the front lawn and emitting a sound beam. This vast new sculptural work, accompanied by 3D ambisonic sound, came to life as darkness fell over the imposing landscape. Visitors could immerse themselves in modulating sound frequencies on the solfeggio scale, numerically relating to sacred geometry and correlating to energy nodes in the body known as chakras. Levine intended for people to be drawn into a brief meditative state, uplifting and purifying, by bathing in this sound beam.
About the Artist
Chris Levine is a light artist who works across many mediums in pursuit of an expanded state of perception and awareness through image and form. Levine’s work considers light not just as a core aspect of art, but of human experience more widely and a spiritual, meditative and philosophical edge permeates his work. Levine is perhaps best known for producing what is already being described as one of the most iconic images of the twenty-first century, Lightness of Being. With light and stillness at its core, the sensational portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II presents an utterly fresh depiction of the most famous woman in the world. The National Portrait Gallery stated it was the most evocative image of a royal by any artist.
Levine’s practice is differentiated by the cross-fertilisation across many creative fields including music, performance, installation, fashion and design in a multitude of projects. His exhibition Hypervisual 1.2 completed a tour of 12 countries with the British Council. In 2012 his work featured in the major exhibition, Queen and Image at London’s National Portrait Gallery. He has had artwork in London’s Science Museum and has staged light performances and exhibitions internationally in spaces such as Radio City in New York commissioned by MoMA, The Eden Project, The Royal Opera House, MATE museum in Lima, London’s Fine Art Society and the headline installation at Dark Mofo festival for Tasmania’s MONA museum.
Levine’s status as one of the World’s leading light artists has led to a number of high profile cross media collaborations from Massive Attack, Hussein Chalayan, Antony and the Johnsons, Kate Moss, Grace Jones and Jon Hopkins and has produced work for Chanel, BMW and Swarovski. He has recently completed another historic portrait to commemorate the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday to raise funds for the victims of Nepal’s recent earthquake. He is only the second artist to take a formal portrait of His Holiness, the previous being Annie Leibovitz.
Acknowledgements
Presented by Houghton Arts Foundation. HAF continues to build a collection of contemporary art in the grounds of Houghton Hall, including a number of site-specific commissions. Proudly sponsored by Sotherby's.
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“This is our first Autumn/Winter show at Houghton, and it is exciting to be showing Chris Levine’s mesmeric laser art in the grounds, as well as a selection of his iconic light portraits. We look forward to seeing how his work will interact with the historic landscape and the architecture of the house.”
Lord Cholmondeley
