Eclectric Oil and Light

Eclectric Oil and Light (EOL) is John Rickus and Carlie Todoro-Rickus. Their body of work focuses on light as performance, as director of movement, and as partner to objects. EOL’s work has been exhibited in the form of sculptural light installations in gallery spaces and in site-specific theatre performances. They have exhibited at Big Orbit Gallery, the Burchfield Penney, Silo City, Satellite Miami, and in many productions for Torn Space Theatre (TST). They have created light installations for Virtual Reality artist Flatsitter, including work seen in VR and as external environments for VR installations. In 2016, some of their work for Torn Space Theatre was published in Chance Magazine, an art publication that features international avant-garde art and design. In June, their lighting design for TST’s site-specific production They Kill Things (2015) represented USA design work at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space (PQ) in a body of TST work.  The Prague Quadrennial is often described as the Venice Biennale of Performance Design. TST is one of only 30 designers and collectives representing the USA professional exhibit in Prague this year. Also included in this body of work at PQ 2019 is Carlie’s scenographic performance art piece, excavator pas de deux, created for TST’s The Gathering (2017). Bruce Jackson described this excavator performance as “…simultaneously beautiful and terrifying,” in a review for The Public. Carlie’s light sculpture Storehouse for TST was included in the USA’s student and immerging designer exhibit at PQ 2015. This piece was responded to favorably by director and lighting designer Robert Wilson who sketched her a suggestion for reinstallation on the spot.   

For more information on Eclectric Oil and Light, visit their website: http://eclectriclight.com/.

Bio courtesy of the artist