Words
Curator’s Notes
Light brings energy to life. Controls our moods. Determines time.
Light’s qualities are endless – there are no limits to its variety and value in art. This exhibition invites the visitor to reflect on the effects of light within an artist’s work and its influence on our emotions.
In childhood, our family learnt that light was everything to my father’s career as a garden photographer! Early morning, blue hues on frost-covered lawns led to 5am starts – bright, direct sunlight were hopelessly flat whilst soft, light cloud gave the tulips their true colours. A picture’s success rested on the quality of light.
Throughout art history we have interpreted symbolism and atmosphere depicted by different lights. Impressionist landscape painters used it to create romance whilst their forefathers emphasised the symbolism in their paintings through their use of dramatic or single source lighting. An exploration of the twelve artists in this show presents the reality that no two people share the same ‘reflection’.
Susie Lawson
“In life and in art, light can be hazy or glaring, contemplative and spiritual, a source of high drama and theatrics… For some, it brings with it a sense of calm and stillness. For others, it’s a moody maker of mystery, blurring an image’s edges and rendering its contents tantalisingly indistinct.”
- excerpt from catalogue, Chloë Ashby