Exploring the great outdoors often resparks that sense of joy we experienced as kids playing in our own backyards. It’s that sense of discovery that pushes us toward that next new bit of open-air awe. So when Travel Nevada approached acclaimed light painting photographer Darren Pearson about capturing some of Nevada’s most secluded scenery over a weeklong road trip, how could he resist?
“There’s so many ghost towns in this state that make for really nice places for photographers to capture,” says Pearson, who works under the artist moniker DariusTwin. “There’s also vast landscapes, starry skies, the roads go on forever, and some of these locations are just like playgrounds for a photographer.”
The Neon in Nature Series, Pearson’s first museum exhibition in the United States, combines his playful light painting process with the barren beauty of the Nevada desert. By using long exposure photography, he’s able to draw detailed figures, from electric green aliens to glowing dinosaurs, with LED light, immortalizing them in the photograph.
Pearson’s light paintings pop up in many unexpected places. His trek to the Extraterrestrial Highway near Rachel led him to draw a technicolor cow levitating above asphalt in mid-abduction. And in the historic mining town of Nelson, he paints two skeletal lovers locked in an eternal embrace within a western chapel.
The exhibition, now on display at Nevada State Museum through April 6, compels us to see our beautiful home in a whole new light.
THE NEON IN NATURE SERIES Thru April 6, Thursday-Monday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., $10-$20. Nevada State Museum, lasvegasnvmuseum.org.
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