A member of the Light and Space movement that includes James Turrell, Robert Irwin, and Doug Wheeler, Helen Pashgian has explored the effects of light and space in her work for five decades. Surveying Pashigan's entire career, this book also features spectacular new photographs of the installation as well as an interview with the artist that delves into Pashgian's fascination with the luminous properties of artistic materials.

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

"Published in conjunction with the touring exhibition, Light, Space, Surface. Itinerary: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy October 2, 2021-January 30, 2022 Frist Art Museum June 3, 2022-September 6, 2022"--

Space Shifters features 20 leading international artists whose work addresses the intersections of perception, sculptural space and architecture.Beginning with the pioneering use of innovative sculptural materials in the 1960s, the exhibition (and this accompanying catalogue) explore the ways in which artworks engage or alter the viewer's perception of the surrounding architecture.The development of these concerns is traced over the course of the past four decades and concludes with artworks from the present day.Artists include: Jeppe Hein, Alicja Kwade, Roni Horn, Richard Wilson, Anish Kapoor, Yayoi Kusama, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, among others.Published on the occasion of the exhibition, Space Shifters at Hayward Gallery, London (26 September 2018 - 1 June 2019).

“The Light and Space movement—of great importance to my development as a young artist—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.” —Olafur Eliasson

Based on an exhibition organized by Joachim Pissarro and curator of contemporary art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Lauren Haynes, Crystals in Art: Ancient to Today explores the complex and varied connections between crystal and art throughout the world. Included are both ancient artifacts—such as engraved gems, figurines, and vases—and works from contemporary artists around the world that explore the power of crystal in art by drawing on its form, properties, and mysterious qualities. Featuring more than sixty-five works from ancient Egypt and Greece, through to Rome, China, India, Japan, the Middle East, the Americas, and beyond, this book invites readers to discover how the power of crystal transcends the boundaries of time and space. Taken together, all of these objects illustrate how crystal has bridged the gap between things we can see and things we can’t: science and art, fact and faith, medicine and magic—the visible and the invisible. Published in collaboration with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and University of Arkansas School of Art.

In the 1960s, a group of Los Angeles artists fashioned a body of work that has come to be known as the “LA Look” or West Coast Minimalism. Its distinct aesthetic is characterized by clean lines, simple shapes, and pristine reflective or translucent surfaces, and often by the use of bright, seductive colors. While the role of materials and processes in the advent of these truly indigenous Los Angeles art forms has often been commented on, it has never been studied in depth — until now. Made in Los Angeles focuses on four pioneers of West Coast Minimalism — Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, and John McCracken — whose working methods, often borrowed from other industries, featured the use of synthetic paints and resins as well as industrial processes to create objects that are both painting and sculpture. Bell, for example, coated plate glass with films of material that alter the way the light is absorbed, reflected, and transmitted, while Kauffman employed a process usually reserved for commercial signs for his work. McCracken coated plywood with fiberglass then spray painted it with countless layers of automotive paints, and Irwin spray-painted discs of hammered aluminum or vacuum-formed plastics. The detailed study of each artist’s work is presented in the context of the emergence of modern art in Los Angeles, the burgeoning mid-twentieth-century gallery scene, and the light-infused LA cityscape. Initially undertaken as part of the Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A.1945–1980 initiative, this volume combines technical art history and scientific analysis to investigate conservation issues associated with the work of these artists, which are often emblematic of issues in the conservation of contemporary art in general.

Sumptuously illustrated with dazzling objects, this publication explores the ways art and science worked hand in hand in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Through the manipulation of materials, such as gold, crystal, and glass, medieval artists created dazzling light-filled environments, evoking, in the everyday world, the layered realms of the divine. While contemporary society separates science and spirituality, the medieval world harnessed the science of light to better perceive and understand the sacred. From 800 to 1600, the study of astronomy, geometry, and optics emerged as a framework that was utilized by theologians and artists to comprehend both the sacred realm and the natural world. Through essays written by contributors from the fields of art history, the history of science, and neuroscience, and with more than two hundred illustrations, including glimmering golden reliquaries, illuminated manuscripts, rock crystal vessels, astronomical instruments, and more, Lumen cuts across religious, political, and geographic boundaries to reveal the ways medieval Christian, Jewish, and Islamic artists, theologians, and thinkers studied light. To convey the sense of wonder created by moving light on precious materials, a number of contemporary artworks are placed in dialogue with historic objects. This volume is published to accompany an exhibition on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center from September 10 to December 8, 2024.

"This volume is published for the occasion of the Getty's citywide grant initiative Pacific Standard Time: Art in Los Angeles 1945-1980 and accompanies the exhibition Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture 1950- 1970, held at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles."