The Color of Light: Utopian Abstractions

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 artists are united by their dedication to abstraction, pure color and form.  The Color of Light project was developed by curators Dianne Beal (USA) and Barbara Bodart (France).

The subtle variations of light rays as they reach specific points on the planet, makes it appropriate and fitting that the exhibition will originate in the south of France where painters from the early 20^thcentury first experimented with the dappled effects of light and color.

Fast forward to the lessons of abstract expressionist painters of the 1940s and 50s, such as Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Joseph Albers or Adolph Gottlieb, each of the artists represented allow subjective emotional expression to exist through creative spontaneous acts.  The following contemporary artists included in this exhibition present their own bold interpretations of color.

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 color paradigm, called NeoConstructivism, using structural elements such as architecture, materiality and public spaces 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 abstraction.

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.

Dianne Beal (USA), curator of the exhibition