I had returned from a Fulbright Scholarship at the Museum of Holography, New York, where I learnt the practical aspects of holography from Dan Schweitzer and Sam Moree. Although I wanted to continue making holograms, I did not have a lab of my own, so formed a collaboration with Light Fantastic Ltd, which, at the time, had a gallery in London’s Covent Garden.

We agreed that I would design a number of holograms, make the models required and specify layouts and lighting. Light Fantastic would then make the pieces as unlimited editions on glass and market them through their London Gallery. ‘Line Addition’ was the first in this collaboration and developed directly from ‘Random Cube Rotation’, an earlier work with animated and projected light which had been part of my MA Exhibition and had also been shown at the ICA, London. The aim of the holographic version was to ‘capture’ the graphic and kinetic nature of the original sculpture, but on the flat surface of the holographic plate.

My relationship with Light Fantastic was much like a printmaker’s relationship would be with a printer. A ‘proof’ hologram was made by Light Fantastic at their Shepshed production facility, adjustments to the set-up would be suggested and further ‘proofs’ produced until the desired effect was achieved. The approved hologram would then be editioned and sold via the London Gallery.

The first ‘proof’ of ‘Line Addition’ was a surprising disappointment. Although technically proficient, it was simply a 3-D recording of a 3-D object and lacked the connection to my previous work. There seemed little point in making holographic copies of 3-D objects when the objects themselves were altogether more interesting! The ‘proof’ lay ‘dormant’ in my studio for several weeks until, while experimenting with the plates, I began to ‘draw’ onto the surface with felt marker. These ‘doodles’ eventually developed into the white plastic lines applied directly to the surface of the holographic plate. This ‘drawing’ of a cube, through which the holographic cube protrudes, helped tighten the piece into something I was happy with and this first part of the series was released for sale.

‘Point Addition’ and ‘Plane Addition’ followed, and were all based on previous projected light installations and wall- based objects I had produced in the late 1970’s. Each piece was sold as an individual work, but they were often exhibited as a series. The complete series was partly the ‘result’ of research I was carrying out, at the time, towards a PhD in the Fine Art Department of the University of Reading. Together they highlighted the Bauhaus principles that all things could be made up of ‘points, lines and planes’. I had been working with these ideas in many of the previous light installations and enjoyed the irony that even using such a high-fidelity medium as holography, these ‘ephemeral’ photonic images could still be defined using basic concepts made popular in the 1920’s.

Each of the works which make up the series has been sold internationally and, although they were always produced as an unlimited edition, the demise of Light Fantastic has meant that they have, by default, become limited.

One of the few complete sets of this series is now part of the Jonathan Ross Hologram Collection.

Andrew Pepper
2002