Patrick Rochon Analysis

Patrick Rochon Analysis - Nude Light Painting

http://www.patrickrochon.com/archives/1092

Patrick Rochon is a light painter. Since 1992, he has been painting with light in photographs, videos and even live performances. With over 19 years of experience, Patrick Rochon has produced light painting photography for numerous rock and fashion magazines, CD jackets, DVDs, posters and various other promotional material. Patrick Rochon is also the first prize winner at the Nikon photo contest in Japan. ‘My work is about the movement of light cumulating through time and space. My mission is to get the greater public to know what light painting is, and for it to be recognized worldwide as a form of art.’ – Patrick Rochon.


The photograph I am looking at is in the collection titled: Nude Light Painting. The background used for this photograph is plain black either created by a black curtain or wall and also a black floor. When looking closer at the photograph, you can see that the main shape in the centre is a female model lying down naked with her arms outstretched. Over her body, golden/white light has been shone onto her to create an electrifying aspect across her that almost looks like a form of liquid that radiates off of her skin, yet is her skin at the same time. Around the models body, golden/white light is used again to highlight her outline and also smear it. The lines drawn around her body have been created to look like they are coming off of her, almost like flames. Thinner lines of white can be seen around her head, possibly representing hair, and around her hands and legs.


From my research, it was clear that Patrick Rochon created this series of ‘Nude Light Painting’ to, in his own words, ‘create a world where you can see, feel and imagine the essence of sexuality and eroticism, to bring beauty into to it, to redirect it into the feeling rather than the look of sensuality and to have the light show as much as it’s hiding the subject leaving lots of space for your own interpretation.’ Looking at this particular photograph, like the others in this series, the use of light engulfs the model’s body possibly representing the emotions and sensations that could take over. Only remnants of the model’s skin is left untouched by the light, this could mean that being in such a scene not only shows your skin, but who you really are through the intimacy of the moment. The black background could represent the lack of attention to what is around people when they are ‘caught up in the moment’. The body itself looks almost liquid by the way the light has been drawn across it, maybe suggesting how some people melt together or at others feet. The way light comes off of the body seems almost flame like, contradicting the liquid centre as the flame like light suggests passion and the hot body temperature of the model’s body. Another interpretation of this is that, on the outside the model comes across as a hot, passionate lover, when really on the inside, she is as delicate as water when it comes to loving another. The white light adds a cooler feel to the whole photograph, a calmer sense of love rather than passionate lust.


I really like this photograph and the subtleness that it holds. The use of the light covers the body enough to make it a non-inappropriate image and a very delicate one that holds and shows beauty in the human form. The way the light seems to radiate off of her body in a way that could never be seen by the naked eye, gives this photograph a magical sense to it and a most definitely sensual feeling about it, in an unusual calm way.