THE COLOR OF LIGHT:
UTOPIAN ABSTRACTIONS
This exhibition explores five artists’ investigations into the color of light. Whether expressed through painting, drawing, photography, video, installation or sculpture, the effects of light, materials, color intensity and hue, subject matter, inspiration, latitude and climate all affect the outcome of the abstract images presented.
The subtle variations of light rays as they reach specific points on the planet, makes it appropriate and fitting that the exhibition will be shown in the south of France, where painters from the early 20th century first experimented with the dappled effects of light and color. Most relevant is that the show originates in the town of the birthplace of abstract expressionist painter, Mark Rothko. The individual context and development of each artist’s ideas presents unique expressions of both precise and spontaneous actions. The contemporary artists presented in this exhibition are united by their dedication to the principals of abstraction, pure color and form.
Julie Wolfe (Washington, DC, USA) investigates color and form, the beauty of nature and its destruction in her paintings, prints, drawings, sculptural objects and installations. Wolfe works with a myriad of materials including water, light, chemical and organic compounds, photographs, salvaged books and other found objects and explores patterns of light and intricacies of color.
Go Segawa (Paris region, France) creates sculptures in which one can feel three different conceptual definitions of space. Beginning with the notion of painting on a two-dimensional surface, the artist shifts the design to a three-dimensional object that then gives the illusion of no gravity or a form floating in space.
Pascal Fancony (Uzés, France) has been using four primary colors of high saturation: video blue, bright red, medium yellow and light green since the 2000s in his paintings, drawings, installations and objects. The effects of concrete optical variations and the metaphysical properties of color captivate the artist and his viewers.
Anton Ginzburg (New York, NY, USA) works within a Constructivist paradigm, using structural elements such as color, line and plane to create ongoing investigations into painting, sculpture, mural art, and film. Through music, video and light, Ginzburg addresses nature and technology by interweaving moments of reality with color field abstractions.
Yves Ullens (Brussels, Belgium) expresses emotion and explores spontaneous feeling through his abstract photographs, installations, sculptures and design objects. He states, “light, the only form of energy that we can see, presents itself as color.” Whether pictorial, optical, or kinetic, Ullens’ world revolves around color.
The Color of Light: Utopian Abstractions at Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre in Latvia. 19 June till 22 August 2021.
EXHIBITION LOCATIONS
Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, Latvia | 19 June - 22 August 2021
L’ancienne évêché, Uzes, France | September 2021
Le Réservoir, Sète, France | 21 October - 21 January 2022