Oct 20th, 2020 • 6 minute read
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Curations with Jordan Holms: In The Right Light
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As the days slowly grow shorter and the dwindling hours of bright daylight that we get each day become more precious, I can’t help but to linger on the importance of light in our everyday surroundings, as well as in art. The right kind of light can be the difference between a good day and a bad day, the deciding factor between a sundress or sweatpants, or a weekend spent hiking rather than curled up in bed.
Light governs so much of the choices we make; it’s mutability, its tendency to be in a constant state of flux carries so much power that it feels almost arbitrary at times. Yet we observe a relatively strict code of conduct every year when summer turns to fall. We change what we wear, what we eat, where we go, and how we behave to mark these changes in light. Art is not unlike the changing of the seasons in the sense that light can make all the difference when it comes to tone. All of the works in this week’s curation use light in different ways to guide the ways in which their work is interpreted.
Blinding Light
This painting, titled Rustling I, by artist Wan Yang emanates pure, blinding light. Against the hazy, atmospheric background, the stark white triangle nearly glows. Like an oracle or some object of divinity, it leans regally, fully erect. The artist writes that this work “indicates an anthropomorphic whisper [...] depicts the second when the light shifts on the wall. The sublime in such instances strikes me. I realize that our vision is frozen in its own specific moment in time.”
Temperature
What I love about this work by Madeleine Rupard is that the light has a physical temperature to it, it’s hot, and feverish, almost dreamlike. This painting, titled Reflecting Pool Again, is from Rupard’s series of observational paintings from Washington, DC. Rupard states “Having moved very frequently throughout my life, my paintings investigate memory and the American landscape [...] These subjects range from the mundane to the miraculous, the grocery store to the gothic cathedral.” This particular scene sits somewhere in the middle of Rupard’s expansive spectrum of subject matter –– at once ordinary, even recognizable to many, but also made unfamiliar through the use of high contrast lighting, as if it were a place plucked from a fitful dream haunted by a ghostly figure.
Sunsets
Unsettling Sunset by Sylvie Mayer takes a different approach to dealing with light than some of the other works in this curation. It is a composite study of various sunsets, stripping them down to their most basic colors and forms. The result is a patchwork quilt of sorts that allows the viewer to appreciate both the abstract qualities of a sunset, as well as its basic elements. About her work Mayer writes that she “is informed by transitions; the last days of fall when the leaves barely hang on to the trees, the moment of reaching a hand out to give or receive, the passageways and thresholds that mark our lives as we navigate aging. She paints moments that serve as turning points, capturing the implied possibility that something is about to happen.”
Glowing
In this work by artist Amelia Carley, titled Fevered Valley (Glass Bottle Beach), light seems to glow from within, incandescent, electric, and hazy. Crystalline like the inside of a gem, but also dark like the neon inside of a rave. In this oil painting, light is both reflective and internal - the composition buzzes with explosive energy. Carley explains that this new work, part of a larger series, “is derived from sculptures made of glass collected from Glass Bottle Beach in Dead Horse Bay, located near Jamaica Bay in Queens, NY. This rehabilitated landfill attracts glass debris so densely that the whole beach is filled with all sizes and ages of glass remnants, from full bottles to aged sea glass. I collected these glass remains and created small models and photographed them to construct a bizarre world. These paintings are a survey of this imagined land.”
Fractals
The light is fractal and flat in this acrylic on wood painting by Vicky Healy, titled You’re My Best Friend. The celestial composition freezes light in time and space, breaking it down to its elemental components, while sweating, swirling appendages puncture ba lack hole through the composition. The artist states that her work “stems from a universe created by her conscious and subconscious mind while trying to process the world she lives in. Sci-fi landscapes have become homes for her vast web of interconnected characters that revolve throughout her work.”
Built Light
This delicate ink, pen, and acrylic work on paper, titled A Dance with Bill Murray, by artist Glenyse Thompson focuses on the material quality of light –– how light can be generated through mark making. The accretion of twisting, textural lines actually builds light into the work, while the gold acrylic accents create a reflective atmosphere that further enhances the interplay between light and color in this composition. “While exhibiting at ArtFields, 2017, I actually had a dance with Bill Murray. This beautiful artwork is a reflection of that conversation. Current themes are conversations shown in a visual manner, illustrating we are more similar than not.”
Luminous
Unlike the other more abstract works in this group, this figurative painting, titled memory. by Gregory Malphurs captures light radiating from within a body. Here, the distorted face of a woman glows with a pallid kind of light that makes her look almost sickly. Taking cues from Francis Bacon, this painting uses luminosity to convey a hauntingly uneasy emotional state of being. The artist writes “my work explores our spirituality striving to understand the subconscious. Seeking to expose the inner self by revealing all the things we try to hide away, I’m creating inside-out portraiture. Less concerned with depicting physical likeness, my work shines a spotlight on psyche seen through a lens of distortion and fragmentation. My subjects are mirrors in which we see reflected all that is inside us.”
Broken Light
This pastel on paper work by Michael Zolnowski focuses on the interplay between light and the natural world. It looks at how light can be obstructed, shaped, and transformed by nature. One of the many things I like about this drawing is how from afar it appears quite organized and seamless, but upon closer inspection the lines begin to break down, fracturing the light that splays across the composition. It becomes less of a solid structure, and more a dizzying accumulation of marks that make up the whole, not unlike a Monet, an artist who was also very concerned with how light functions in relation to representation.
Bringing it Together
Each work in this week’s curation takes up a different approach to experimenting with light, as both a depictive and conceptual tool. Work like that of Wan Yang’s, Amelia Carley or Vicky Healy’s embraces the material, fractal qualities of light to create seemingly extra-terrestrial works. Madeleine Rupard and Michael Zolnowski employ the physicality of light to describe ordinary spaces, while Gregory Malphurs, Sylvie Mayer, and Glenyse Thompson use light to convey different psychological states of being. What all of these artists demonstrate is that light, in its various interpretations, is a key factor that influences the emotional tone of a work of art.
About Jordan Holms
Jordan Holms is an interdisciplinary artist who works primarily in painting, sculpture, and textiles. Her work examines how space is materialized, organized, and made to mean. She has exhibited internationally in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada and her work is held in multiple private collections. In addition to a solo exhibition at Marrow Gallery, her paintings have been included in a group show at SFMoMA Artists Gallery, a number of MFA survey exhibitions, featured at BAMPFA, and in Adidas’s San Francisco Market Street storefront. Most recently, Holms was a recipient of the Vermont Studio Center Artist Grant, where she was an artist-in-residence in February 2020. She is also a 2016-2019 recipient of the San Francisco Art Institute’s Graduate Fellowship Award. She earned a Master of Fine Arts and Master of Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2019, where she graduated with honors. Holms lives and works in San Francisco, California.