Description
Light and Space denotes a loosely affiliated art movement related to op art, minimalism and geometric abstraction originating in Southern California in the 1960s and influenced by John McLaughlin. It is characterized by a focus on perceptual phenomena, such as light, volume and scale, and the use of materials such as glass, neon, fluorescent lights, resin and cast acrylic, often forming installations conditioned by the work's surroundings. Whether by directing the flow of natural light, embedding artificial light within objects or architecture, or by playing with light through the use of transparent, translucent or reflective materials, Light and Space artists make the spectator's experience of light and other sensory phenomena under specific conditions the focus of their work. Read more ↗
Key Artists
James Turrell
Leading master of the movement who manipulates light as a physical volume through Skyspaces, shallow space constructions, and his monumental Roden Crater project.
Robert Irwin
Founding philosopher and artist of Light and Space who abandoned studio painting to create conditional installations using scrims, acrylic columns, and ambient light.
Larry Bell
Pioneered vacuum-deposited thin-film coatings on glass cubes and standing panels to create captivating interplays of reflection, absorption, and transparency.
Peter Alexander
Key Southern California sculptor who utilized cast polyester resin to capture shifting light, translucency, and the atmospheric gradients of the Pacific coast.
Mary Corse
Pioneering artist who embedded glass microspheres (highway illumination beads) into white monochrome paintings to make them shimmer dynamically with viewer movement.
Helen Pashgian
Core pioneer of industrial resins and epoxies who created luminous spheres and columns containing internal elements that shift dramatically under light.
Famous Artworks
Afrum I (White)
James Turrell · 1966
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) / MoMA - Projected quartz halogen light
Cube (Untitled)
Larry Bell · 1968
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York - Mineral-coated glass on chrome base
Untitled (White Multiverse)
Mary Corse · 1969
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles - Acrylic and glass microspheres on canvas
Fun Facts
The term 'Light and Space' originated from the historic 1971 exhibition 'Transparency, Reflection, Light, Space: Four Artists' curated by Frederick S. Wight at the UCLA Art Galleries.
↗ Source: en.wikipedia.org
In the late 1960s, Robert Irwin and James Turrell collaborated with aerospace scientists and psychologists as part of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Art and Technology Program, researching sensory deprivation and human visual adaptation in an anechoic chamber.
↗ Source: moma.org
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