La(mp)s Meninas

Continuing the great tradition of reinvisioning Velazquez' canonical Las Meninas, I present to you: Lamps Meninas. This simple, striking installation will recreate the composition of the famous painting, with the key players represented by various types of lighting. The neon sign's MP flickers, oscillating between spelling out "LAMPS MENINAS" and "LAS MENINAS." A funny, aesthetically lovely way to shepherd in our darker months.

Painted by Diego Velazquez in 1656, Las Meninas seems made to be recreated. Not just a painting within a painting (though it does feature other works within), it is instead the painting of a painting. The artifice of this work is its behind-the-scenes nature, depicting Velazquez standing at a large canvas, working on a portrait of the King and Queen (seen reflected in a mirror in the background). Meanwhile, the Royal court are gathered to watch him work, including La Infanta Margarita and her attendants. As the viewer is inevitably situated exactly where the King and Queen would be located to pose for Velazquez, to the viewer's perspective, these backstage figures and the production of the "painting" are the main subjects; but from the perspective of the figures in the painting, the viewer (in the role of the Royal couple) becomes the subject.

In Lamps Meninas La Infanta's famous gown is reflected in the shape of a low-hanging chandelier. The dwarf's similar visage is echoed in a matching, scaled-down chandelier, while La Infanta's task-lamp attendants attentively bend in around her. Velazquez' red honorific (said to have been added to the canvas by the King after Velazquez' death) is a red bulb, hanging next to a bare flourescent bulb which stands in for the edge of the painting-in-progress. The dog, of course, becomes a table lamp on its side, with the shade turned around to emulate a cone, its cord draped behind like a tail.