Collecting 101

1.

It's Minimalism, But Different

Most experts consider the Light and Space movement to be a variation of Minimalism, but there are some significant differences. Rejecting the emotive and gestural sentimentality of Abstract Expressionism, Minimalists argued that the meaning of an artwork was not intrinsic to the form but rather, meaning was created from the relationship between artwork, context, and viewer. This break from tradition emerged in New York City with the radical artworks and/or writings of artists like Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Robert Morris, and Dan Flavin— artists that tended to use industrial and prefabricated materials to create restrained, geometric forms devoid of ornamentation or detail, emphasizing the materiality and “objecthood” of an object.

Simultaneously, artists on the West Coast explored similar materials and aesthetics, and they too understood the meaning of an artwork to exist beyond the confines of the object itself. But this California-based faction, which came to be known as the Light and Space movement, was more concerned with the audience’s perception of the work, than the work’s materiality. For example, Minimalist Dan Flavin created installations using fluorescent tube lighting arranged geometrically, emphasizing the innovative use of prefabricated industrial lighting as a medium. Contrastingly, James Turrell, an artist associated with the Light and Space movement, often minimized or concealed the light source in his installations, illustrating the importance of the light’s effect and the viewer’s perception of it.

2.

Industrial Materials, Scientific Concepts

Like all artistic movements, Minimalism did not develop in a vacuum. In the 1950s and ‘60s, a spate of brand-new industrial materials became commercially available, many of which were invented for military uses during World War II. Breaking from the use of traditional materials like paint on canvas, ceramic, or bronze. Minimalists innovated with fiberglass, Plexiglas, plastics, and resins. Due to the technical nature of these materials, artists often collaborated with technicians and engineers; the gestural mark of the artist’s hand was no longer important in this new creative process, which sometimes involved outsourced workmanship.

Meanwhile, universities and think tanks in Southern California were studying the nature of sensory deprivation, human perception, and kinesthetic experience. This new scientific research had a profound influence on many Light and Space artists who created illusory artworks that called the viewer’s attention to their own sense of perception and experience. The 1967 Art & Technology Program at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art recognized the fruitful overlap between artistic exploration and perception research. A similar program was launched at the California Institute of Technology, where artists Helen Pashgian and Peter Alexander collaborated with a physicist, industrial designer, and computer graphics pioneer.

3.

Notable Artworks

An early work in the Light and Space movement is Robert Irwin’s Untitled (1966-67), consisting of a painted concave aluminum disc spanning five feet in diameter and suspended nearly two feet from the wall. Lit from multiple angels, the disc both reflects light and casts multiple shadows on the wall behind it. Its edges rendered nearly indistinguishable, it appears as if it emits light, not merely reflects it. This ephemeral-seeming object is made of minimal visual elements, yet its impact on the viewer is profound. While the viewer struggles to focus on the object and understand what it is they’re seeing, they become aware of their own perception. The experiential nature of the work was integral to Irwin’s works, which he later restricted to only in-person viewing. In the 1970s, he disallowed any of his works to be photographed because he believed no image could capture the experience his art evoked.

While the Light and Space movement (and Minimalism more broadly) is most associated with non-traditional sculpture, painting was also a medium that artists experimented with. Mary Corse’s 1970 painting Untitled (Light Painting, Grid) utilizes glass microspheres embedded within white acrylic paint to create a subtle reflective surface that appears to recede and advance in a checkerboard-like pattern. As the viewer moves her position in relation to the painting, or as the light source changes, the visual experience of the work changes with it. The “dance” the viewer engages in with the painting underscores another important facet of the Light and Space movement - the element of time and durational experience.

The term “finish fetish” was coined to describe a style associated with many artists of the Light and Space movement, including Frederick Eversley. The artist said that almost all of the labor involved in making his work happened in the final step: polishing the rough molded resin to create the shiny uniform look so integral to the finish fetish style. With a background in engineering (more on that below), Eversley is best known for his meticulous parabolic shapes, which he created by filing a tube with resin and spinning it on a horizontal access. His 1971 piece Untitled (Parabolic Lens) consists of a highly polished polyester disk with a flat back and concave front. Eversley articulated his interest in the parabolic form, saying, “The parabola happens to be the only mathematic shape that concentrates all forms of known energy to the same focal point.”

4.

Notable Artists

Mary Corse

Though best known for her aforementioned white reflective paintings, Mary Corse started her explorations with Light and Space by making light boxes in 1966 while studying at the Chouinard Art Institute. Informed by her studies in physics, these light boxes used argon gas and Tesla coils to make white fluorescents. Though she shifted focus from two-dimensional works to sculpture to immersive installation and environments, painting remains a through-line in her work.

Frederick Eversley

Frederick Eversley’s route to art was circuitous. He graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburg trained in engineering, going on to design high-intensity acoustical laboratories for NASA and other major aerospace companies. While living in Venice Beach, he befriended a community of artists and began helping them produce art objects that required highly technical skill. Soon enough, he began creating his own art, which he pursued full time after a life-threatening care accident in 1967 inspired him to leave engineering for good.

Robert Irwin

Robert Irwin’s significant contributions to the Light and Space movement may have begun with his aforementioned painted aluminum discs, but Irwin’s later explorations with ephemeral materials and existing sites were perhaps his most innovative. For instance, Irwin’s first permanent museum installation, at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, framed an ocean view and opened up the gallery space to the light, air, smells, and sounds from the world outside.

Larry Bell

Larry Bell works in a variety of media, from painting on canvas and works on paper to sculpture and even furniture design. He is most known for his use of glass, and more specifically, his glass cube sculptures. Since 1969, his studio has used its own high-vacuum coating system that enables him to deposit a thin metal film coating to glass surfaces.

Eric Orr

Like the other artists in the Light and Space movement, sculptor and installation artist Erc Orr was interested in perception. His work differed, however, in that it was primarily comprised of natural materials rather than industrial and synthetic ones. Elemental materials like water, fire, and stone were often used, along with blood, human bone, and gold leaf. Orr was greatly influenced by ancient religions and cultures, Egyptian symbolism, and Buddhist spiritualism.

Peter Alexander

Most known for his sculptural work in translucent plastic and resin, Peter Alexander started his career as an architect after receiving both his BFA and MFA from the University of California in Los Angeles. His turn towards art happened almost on accident; after using resin to repair a ding on his surfboard, he became fascinated by the material and began experimenting with color and translucency. Later in his career, Alexander focused on painting, often depicting the landscape and night skyline of Los Angeles.

5.

Influence and Legacy

The immersive environments and experiential installations pioneered by the Light and Space artists paved the way for abstract color theory artists like Phil Sims , Anne Appleby, and David Simpson. And a second generation of artists have continued the legacy of the Light and Space movement into the contemporary moment, most notably Olafur Eliasson, Tara Donovan, Spencer Finch, and Andy Moses.

Especially within the last ten to fifteen years, artists from the Light and Space movement have received significant institutional attention. Pacific Standard Time: Art in LA 1945-1980, a series of exhibitions in 2011 funded by the Getty Foundation, included the critically acclaimed exhibition Phenomenal: California Light, Space, and Surface. Held at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the exhibition included immersive room-sized environments by Orr, Wheeler, Turrell, and Irwin, alongside a number of distinct paintings and sculptures by Alexander, Kauffman, Pashgian, Valentine, and others. The Light and Space movement will forever be recognized as one of the most, if not the most, important artistic movement to come from the West Coast int he 20th century.

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