Bright Star (Sirius)

Description

Bright Star (Sirius) illustrates what Spencer Finch has described as art’s ability to “ignite our capacity for wonder.” Based on the star Sirius, otherwise known as the “Dog Star” due to its prominence in the constellation Canis Major (Big Dog), here Finch seeks to replicate the exact light intensity of the star’s bluish cast when seen by the naked eye. He accomplishes this with a meticulous process of translating astronomical research into a system that approximates the star’s color and intensity through the placement of colored gels of specific widths on fluorescent tubes at prescribed intervals.