Luminaries of Light: Pioneers of the California Light and Space Movement
By Liz Goldner
Honarkar Foundation for Arts & Culture, Laguna Beach, California
Exhibition continues through December 14, 2024
November 9, 2024
De Wain Valentine, "Untitled (Circle)," ca. 1975, cast polyester resin, 34 1/2 x 2 1/4".
All images courtesy of The Honarkar Foundation for Arts and Culture, Laguna Beach.
Twenty-six artworks by eleven leading artists of the Light and Space movement make up this immersive “Luminaries of Light” exhibition. The translucency of the paintings and sculptures is enhanced when displayed in such close proximity. They are especially luminous when lit by the natural light streaming in through the gallery’s skylights and windows.
When the Light and Space movement emerged during the 1960s, the relative handful of artists that embraced its then-radical aesthetic inspired and influenced each other, creating a cohesive movement that has long since spread far beyond its Southern California point of origin.
The exhibition was curated by Australian native Genevieve Williams, who became fascinated by the Light and Space movement soon after her relocation to California in 2015. Its Minimalist-inspired aesthetic distinguished itself from the New York counterpart in part by embracing industrial media such as polyester resin, fiberglass, Plexiglas, and other novel materials used in the aerospace, auto, and surfboard industries. As so many art lovers have observed, and still do today, many of the abstract geometrical pieces, often referred to as “Finish/Fetish," reflect the shimmering aspects of Southern California’s expansive open spaces and coastal atmosphere. The pieces were designed to merge with the surrounding environment and to involve our active participation. As Helen Pashgian (who is included in the show) remarked, “The point is to be able to interact with the piece … to see into it, to see through it.”
Helen Pashgian, "Untitled," 2009-2011, cast epoxy with insert, 6" diameter.
“Luminaries of Light” took nearly a year to mount. Though it is not part of the Getty Foundation’s current “PST ART: Art & Science Collide” series of exhibitions, it addresses the Getty’s theme of the intersection of art and science. As art historian Dr. Julia Friedman wrote for the catalog accompanying the show, “While aesthetic perception is vital, the Light and Space movement is emphatically technology oriented, with nearly every participant using scientific and engineering methods to create their works. Still, their art is somehow profoundly humanistic, insofar as they require perceptual interaction from their viewers to come into existence.”
A stellar example of this duality is DeWain Valentine’s six-foot high “Column Mauve” (1968), a wedge-shaped sculpture mirroring the afternoon sky. The artist’s “Untitled (Circle)” (1975), a three-foot-high freestanding concave disk, displays a pink base flawlessly evolving into light blue, suggesting the atmosphere from the shoreline on a perfect summer day.
Fred Eversley, "Untitled (Parabolic Lens)," 1974/2020, cast polyester, 19 3/8 x 19 3/8 x 6 1/8".
Pashgian’s “Untitled” (2009-2011) is a pale blue orb of cast epoxy with an insert. It echoes the ambiance of the Valentine piece. To pay homage to her childhood spent at the Laguna Beach ocean and tide pools, she finished the sculpture with a pristine surface that enables us to at once see into and through it, “to experience a tension between the eye and the brain,” as she put it. Nearby stands Fred Eversley’s “Untitled (Parabolic Lens)” (1974), a cast polyester, rose-colored object that mirrors and enhances the Valentine and Pashgian sculptures. The interplay both clarifies and heightens the aesthetic experience by virtue, not in spite of, the sculptures’ physical presence.
Larry Bell contributes several pieces to this show, most notably two of his now classic glass cube-shaped sculptures. His “3D VD 11/24/14 A” (2014) contains a birdlike aluminum sculpture within it. “Untitled (Corner Lamp)” (1980) is a gleaming beveled glass form coated with Inconel and Silicon Monoxide. Lit from within and hung in a dark corner of the gallery, it exudes a sense of mystery from a distance while inviting us to peer inside of it.
Laddie John Dill, "Untitled," 1971, sand, argon light, plate glass, size variable.
Peter Alexander, who grew up in Newport Beach communing with the ocean on a daily basis, worked with a variety of Light and Space styles over the course of a long and eclectic career. Among his most well-known pieces are his resin wedges. Included here is the 10-inch-high “Rose Wedge” (2011), a finely finished geometric construction resembling (more metaphorically than literally) a rising wave during a glorious Southern California afternoon. The larger “Untitled” (1968), tinted in dark gray, luminously mirrors the night sky.
Laddie John Dill’s “Untitled” (1971) distinguishes itself here by virtue of its sheer complexity. Several plate glass geometric structures are placed sequentially in a large field (three tons’ worth) of sculpted sand shaped into dunes and lit underneath by argon light. The work takes up an entire room and calls to mind the experience of looking at crashing waves while running along the beach.
James Turrell, "Untitled (SIV E)," 2005, hologram and glass construction, 23 x 15 3/4".
Also included are works by Mary Corse, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, Doug Wheeler and James Turrell. The latter contributes “Untitled (XIV E)” (2005), a reflective hologram and glass construction that does not reveal its materials or how it was constructed. Observes the artist, “I like to use light as a material, but my medium is actually perception. I want you to sense yourself sensing.” The work combines analytical precision with a deep sense of awe and mystery. It is the apotheosis of this clarifying exhibition.
The Light and Space aesthetic led Turrell directly to his celebrated ongoing project, the Roden Crater observatory, being built in an extinct volcano located in a remote corner of Arizona. A fusion of Earth Art and Light and Space Art, the project, which Turrell has worked on since 1977, serves as testimony to the staying power of the West Coast’s most renowned avant-garde movement. “Luminaries of Light” offers ample justification for this status.
