Client: Capital One

Location: Tysons, VA, United States

Completion date: 2022

Artwork budget: $450,000

Project Team

Art Program Administrator

Anne Fletcher

Capital One

Regional Art Coordinator

Susannah Dunn

Capital One

Regional Art Coordinator

Jones Lang LaSalle

Capital One

Architect

Jeff Barber

Gensler Architects

Production Manager

John McGovern

Shadowbox Design Management

Art Consultant

Dale Lanzone

D Lanzone LLC

Project Coordinator

Kat Choe

Assistant

Rose Blanshei

Assistant

Mia Boloukos

Assistant

Tucker Ellis

Assistant

Conor McNamara

Assistant

Cole Mercier

Assistant

Thea Voyles

Assistant

Yulanda Shieh

Overview

The work, which consists of a field of ribbons that span the length of six stories, builds upon Patterson’s previous ribbon installations in a site-specific interplay with the elements. Suspended right beside a multi-story wall of windows, Ascendant Light shimmers, sways, and is in constant conversation with the shifting light and varying shades of blue that radiate in from the sky outside.

Up close from the upper atrium of the 23-floor building, the subtle sway of the ribbons mesmerizes and seems to act as a magnet, drawing in light and shadow from the outside. Below from the main lobby, Ascendant Light can still be seen, and appears as an abstract form, like a color-field painting suddenly sprang into three-dimensional life.

Ribbons of fifty-five feet were hand-plotted by Patterson and suspended in an arrangement that invites and even challenges the eye. Invoking the metaphysical, the suspended lines create an upward, lifting sensation. The form that is a dense mass of color at a distance reveals itself to be no solid object at all, but a collection of fine, delicate parts. The fusion of blue and yellow hues reflect, refract, and exchange with the colors occurring naturally just beyond the center’s windows

Ascendant Light, 2022
satin ribbon, steel cable
55′ x 41′ x 28′

Goals

“With this work, I am seeking to create a conversation of elements: between air and light, between interior and exterior, between the lower and upper lobbies of the spectacular architecture of the new center. When the clouds pass by the atrium windows, and as the sun makes its daily arc, the cast shadows and shifting light merge with the colors and texture of Ascendant Light; what shimmers and flutters from the ceiling becomes one with the existing environment.”

Process

This project was conceived of by Anne Patterson, and brought to life in collaboration with the team at Capital One, Gensler Architects, and Shadowbox Productions, and a team of assistants.