Be inspired by a selection of artists from the Light and Space movement – a group
based in and around Los Angeles in the 1960s who experiemented with perception.
Doug Wheeler
Doug Wheeler is noted for his innovative constructions and installations that manipulate the perception and experience of space, volume, and light. He draws on a childhood spent in the desert. “I used to lie down on my back in Arizona and you could see the stars,” Wheeler has said. “I was afraid that I would float right up and gravity would not hold me…. I was conscious of the planet in the sense of light.” Each piece presents luminous atmospheric effects and subtle tonal variations.
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Mary Corse
Mary Corse is influenced by scientific inquiry. She has a deep fascination with perception and the possibility that light itself could serve as both a subject and material. Corse approaches this through painting, transforming modernist tropes such as monochrome and square canvases into illuminated works. The artist uses a variety of materials, including microspheres – commonly used in highway lane paint.
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James Turrell
James Turrell’s works encourage a state of vision that the artist calls “seeing yourself seeing.” The immersive environments invite the viewer to become more aware of changes in the landscape. Colours change slowly in vast, atmospheric environments. Each piece delves into the optical and emotional effects of luminosity, demonstrating Turrell’s continued interest in the psychology of space.
Robert Irwin
Robert Irwin’s career began in the 1950s with Abstract Expressionist paintings. Today, he is best known for creating light works that make alterations in physical space. Translucent panels cut through rooms, changing the architectural layout of the gallery. Brightly coloured fluorescents come together in geometric patterns and grids – drawing spectators in and playing with their experiences.
Helen Pashgian
Featured above is a work by pioneering sculptor Helen Pashgian. Comprising 12 moulded acrylic columns, it fills an entire gallery. “I think of the columns as ‘presences’ in space – presences that do not reveal everything at once,” she explained. “One must move around to observe changes: coming and going, appearing and receding, visible and invisible – a phenomenon of constant movement. It touches on the mysterious, the place beyond which the eye cannot go.”
Images:
1. Doug Wheeler, 49 Nord 6 Est 68 Ven 12 FL, installation view at David Zwirner Gallery, Jan 2020.
2. Mary Corse
3. James Turrell, Dhātu, 2010
4. Robert Irwin, Light and Space II (1), 2008.
5. Helen Pashgian, “Untitled, 2012-13,” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.(Los Angeles County Museum of Art).