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Recently reinstalled at the Fields Sculpture Park in Ghent, NY is artist Michael Somoroff's Illumination I . Somoroff used a myriad of 3D visualization software to create the large-format sculpture.

Originally commissioned by the non-denominational Rothko Chapel in Houston, the 12-ton project is a cross between sculpture and architecture that gives sheltering form to the lighting conditions in a scared space. Based on images of various mosques and holy ruins, Somoroff began by building a virtual mosque with 3D compositing software. He applied a computer program that could chart sunlight moving through the mosque's window and across it's interior based on a specified date and location.

Somoroff then used modeling software to simulate the effects of forces such as gravity, space/time, and other atmospheric contingencies at the chapel on models of that light. The final translation of this light relied on CAD software and CNC milling to create a 20' high sculpture in foam which was then cast in fiberglass and finished in stucco.

A commercial photographer and TV spot director by trade, Somoroff views art as a spiritual practice whose purpose is to assist in the negotiation of reality, virtual or otherwise.

more images after the jump