Light, Space, and the Shape of Time

In the 1960s, California Light and Space artists began using new materials like plastic, glass, and neon lights to explore how we see and experience the world. Their experiments with light, color, and reflections transformed traditional definitions of what art is and can be. Instead of making paintings or sculptures, they created glowing, colorful objects and immersive spaces that created the feeling of stepping into another world.

Light, Space, and the Shape of Time showcases not only the first artists of the Light and Space movement but also those who came after them. It highlights how new ideas in science and technology from a wide diversity of artists continue to shape this style of art today, and emphasizes the important roles that New Mexico’s unique landscapes and atmosphere have played in inspiring many of these artists.

Featured artists are Peter Alexander, Neal Ambrose-Smith (Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation of Montana), LaTurbo Avedon, Larry Bell, Barbara Bock, Dan Flavin, Jenny Holzer, Robert Irwin, Florence Miller Pierce, August Muth, Michael Namingha (Tewa/Hopi), Soo Sunny Park, Helen Pashgian, James Turrell, Leo Villareal, and Kumi Yamashita.

Watch the Opening Talk with exhibition curator William Gassaway and artist Soo Sunny Park.

Image:
Larry Bell, The Cat (detail), 1981, Inconel-coated glass, dimensions variable, Albuquerque Museum, museum purchase, PC1989.68.1, photo: Albuquerque Museum