Synopses & Reviews
During the 1960s and 1970s, a loosely affiliated group of Los Angeles artists--including Larry Bell, Mary Corse, Robert Irwin, James Turrell, and Doug Wheeler--more intrigued by questions of perception than by the crafting of discrete objects, embraced light as their primary medium. Whether by directing the flow of natural light, embedding artificial light within objects or architecture, or playing with light through the use of reflective, translucent, or transparent materials, each of these artists created situations capable of stimulating heightened sensory awareness in the receptive viewer.
Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface, companion book to the exhibition of the same name, explores and documents the unique traits of the phenomenologically engaged work produced in Southern California during those decades and traces its ongoing influence on current generations of international artists.
Foreword by Hugh M. Davies
Additional contributors:
Michael Auping
Stephanie Hanor
Adrian Kohn
Dawna Schuld
Artists:
Peter Alexander
Larry Bell
Ron Cooper
Mary Corse
Robert Irwin
Craig Kauffman
John McCracken
Bruce Nauman
Eric Orr
Helen Pashgian
James Turrell
De Wain Valentine
Doug Wheeler
Review
and#8220;Of the many superb books related to and#8216;Pacific Standard Time,and#8217; Phenomenal is among the most elegant.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Beautifully illustrated and impressively researched. . . . Represents an important contribution to the deepening of scholarship on this still poorly understood yet fundamental dimension of postwar Los Angeles art.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Impressive. . . . Notable for including many large-scale, immersive works that are rarely shown to the public.and#8221;
Synopsis
and#147;The Light and Space movementand#151;of great importance to my development as a young artistand#151;is far more than a valid art historical reference. It translates matters of psychology, phenomenology, criticality, emotional investment, and now-ness into an immaterial language that is both subversive and compelling. Light and Space is as contemporary as ever.and#8221;
and#151;Olafur Eliasson
Synopsis
A fascinating offshoot of minimalism, Light and Space art emerged in California in the 1970s and continues to be influential today.
Another Minimalism traces the growth and development of the school, with its interest in site-specific installation, color, immateriality, and situationist and participatory artandmdash;all in all a very different kind of minimalism from the austere, mathematical abstractions that the term usually calls to mind.
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Looking at the work of major contemporary artists like Tacita Dean, Olafur Eliasson, Carol Bove, and Spencer Finch, Feldman rewrites the story of minimalismandrsquo;s impact on later artists, revealing the powerful but largely unrecognized influence of West Coast artists like Robert Irwin, James Turrell, and Maria Nordman. Richly illustrated, Another Minimalism offers a convincing new angle on the work and legacy of key twentieth-century artists.
About the Author
Melissa E. Feldman is a Seattle-based independent curator and writer who has contributed to Art in America, Frieze, Third Text, and Aperture, among other publications. and#160;She is currently distinguished visiting faculty for critical and contextual studies at Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle.and#160;