UK – Lighting designer Jonny Gaskell has harnessed the laser-like beam of Clay Paky’s Sharpy fixtures to deliver a high impact, three-dimensional lighting environment for electronic dance music duo Orbital on their UK tour, which culminated with a spectacular and hard hitting show at Brixton Academy.
Gaskell, of Pinnacle Productions, combined the razor sharp beams of the Clay Paky Sharpys, supplied by rental operation Colour Sound Experiment, with laser bounce mirrors to deliver a three dimensional prism of super bright almost architectural effects around the band. This worked as part of a layered lighting concept that combined evocative video, moody washes and striking effects during the dynamic, content rich show. The result was a dramatically striking, 3D world of light and images that worked as one with Orbital’s music but at the same time also reached out and engaged the lively audience beyond.
“The Sharpys formed an integral and hugely important layer within the design, cutting through all the other layers to great effect,” explains Gaskell. “When I first used them and saw how fantastic the optics were, I decided to use them to create a beam matrix around the band’s equipment and stage, which formed one of the most powerful looks within the show and one which couldn’t have been achieved using any other lighting fixture. Over the past year everywhere in the world that we have travelled, the audience, without fail, has cheered when this look was used.
“Orbital’s varied music creates the opportunity to deliver a really dynamic show,” continues Gaskell. “The Sharpy’s brightness, given the low power draw and versatility to create beam effects using the prisms and gobos is second to none, not to mention the strong colours that one always expects from Clay Paky fixtures. The Sharpy’s smooth and accurate movement is something to behold, at both slow and fast pace. Its shutter speed is incredible for those high impact moments as it the rate at which the colour wheel can snap from one colour to the next for following the bpm of a track. All in all the Sharpy is a formidable lighting fixture that works equally as well in large outdoor arenas or small nightclubs, well done Clay Paky.”
“Jonny Gaskell’s imaginative use of the Sharpy, using them more like a virtual architectural building block rather than a lighting fixture, is impressive,” comments Glyn O’Donoghue, managing director of Clay Paky’s UK distributor, Ambersphere. “The Sharpy is specifically designed to offer super bright and sharp light output, be compact enough to fit anywhere yet be feature rich enough to deliver the fast paced and precise effects that today’s designers demand. Jonny certainly gave the Sharpy a run for it’s money with his super fast, dynamic and colourful design and the result was spectacular.”