Light Rooms

The Light Rooms, titled by location, are shaped by architectural elements such as doors and windows. Daylight moves across these elements, creating an image of the light, which I delineate in different materials, fixing one moment in time. The delineated images of light don't move, while the actual light does move across the space each day, as the sun moves. These pieces can be made with temporary materials such as paint or carpet, but also with more permanent materials, such as brick, stone, or ceramic tile in public spaces.

6321 Dover, 1979

The first of the Light Rooms, this installation was presented at a dinner party in Oakland, during which viewers watched light move across the wall. The moving light had earlier been painted in three different positions, providing a contrast with the moving light.

Materials: light, paint, wall, floor

Size: approx. 106" x 72"

49 Geary, 1998

Made at Brian Gross Fine Art in San Francisco, this is a dark grey carpet with an image of the light inlaid using a lighter grey carpet. As the light changes position throughout the day, the inlaid light pattern remains the same, juxtaposed with that which we cannot capture, the moving light.

Materials: light, carpet, windows, walls, floor

Size: 16' x 24' x 14'

Day In, Day Out, 1999

This had two discrete components. Here you see the daytime piece, in which the light enters three windows during the day. It crosses the wall opposite, moving and changing as the day passes. Under the moving light is a single painted image of the light at a particular moment in time. The nighttime component can be seen on the Dark Rooms page.

Materials: paint, light, windows, wall, projected moving image, ground

1999, Installed at The Kunstmuseum Heidenheim, Germany

147 W. 29th, 1999

Depicted here is light moving across wall and floor paintings from one set of windows. First the sunlight crosses the floor paintings, moving up to the wall images, then across the wall from left to right. Finally, as the sun sets, the bottom line of the shapes on the wall moves up and up, until it forms a narrow line and disappears.

Materials: light, paint, walls, floor

approx. 1200 square feet, Florence Lynch Gallery, NYC

Marfa Ruins, 2001

As light passed through doors and windows in the old walls, it was delineated on concrete with contac paper and the ground with lime. The actual light moved across this delineated light. This piece was shown at an outdoor reception at the Chinati Foundation from 6-9PM on the longest day of the year, as the sun gradually got closer and closer to setting. (Some years later, Robert Irwin used the same site for one of his pieces.)

Materials: lime, ground, contac paper, light, concrete porch, old building walls, approx. 20' x 110' x 10'

Chinati Foundation, Marfa TX

Schulgasse 9, 1998

Images conjugating the verb "to remember" showing in different languages on each of three windows. The words move slowly across the floor with the light, finally to disappear as the light disappears. This piece is, of course, about memory, and trying to capture memory in a material way, while it fades, like the light. Made during an artist’s residency in Wiesbaden, Germany, this work reflects the multicultural neighborhood where I lived.

Materials: light, windows, floor, frosted glass

approx. 40' x 30' x 12'

1441 Route 22, 1997

Here again, light grey carpet is inlaid into dark grey carpet. This light grey carpet forms the pattern of the light cast at a particular moment. However, each day the light crosses this image in a slightly different position from the day it was made. In these works the light, as it moves through 3-dimensional space, is as important as the 2-dimensional depiction on wall or floor. Made during an artist’s residency at Art Omi, in upstate NY.

Materials: light, carpet, windows, walls, floor

19' x 11' x 9'

February 30, 2004

This is my first installation based on fictitious light. Made at Dangerous Curve in LA, the space had a northern exposure, which didn't permit light to enter during May - hence the name, "February 30", a fictitious day. The image of the light is painted on the floor at 3 times, in 3 colors, creating intricate patterns overlaid patterns. This work is connected to floor and wall paintings, but also to my drawings, in which lines also cross and overlay also.

Materials: paint, floor, walls, windows, approx. 800 square feet

Dangerous Curve, Los Angeles

Manbrook, 1990

Located at Fulton Ferry Landing State Park in DUMBO, between the bases of the Manhattan Bridge (in photo) and the Brooklyn Bridge, this piece is a pathway with painted light and shadows moving across it. The path is situated with particular views at each end, its forms echoing the forms of the two bridges.

Materials: wood, paint, light, 24' x 4' x 8'

Ferry Landing State Park, NYC

Series of Miniatures, various dates

1214 Webster, 1982

Proarts in Oakland had two skylights. Carpeting the entire space with dark grey carpet, I then inlaid white linoleum under one skylight, so it reflected light around this end of the room, reflecting the movement of the sun. I then covered the second skylight with translucent white contac paper, creating almost a dark grey cloud at that end of the room, a marked contrast to the brilliant reflections at the opposite end. The two ends of the room had different densities, one heavy and dark, and one light with moving reflections, making the room feel weighted differently at each end.

Materials: light, walls, skylights, carpet, linoleum, contac paper, approx. 25' x 40' x 18'

ProArts Gallery, Oakland CA