Helen Pashgian: Light Invisible

Helen Pashgian, Untitled, 2012-2013 © 2014 Helen Pashgian

The exhibition includes the first large-scale sculptural installation by Helen Pashgian, a pioneer of the Light and Space movement. Pashgian's early experiments with oil paintings with glazes that trapped and bounced light were influenced by her exposure in college to Vermeer’s luminous canvases. Later, Pashgian began working in three dimensions, creating sculpture. She was one of a group of Los Angeles-area artists in the late 1960s who recognized that new materials used by industry (especially aerospace) and leisure culture (surfboards, custom cars) could also be used by artists—including fiberglass, resins, plastics, and coated glass. Pashgian continues to live and work in Pasadena. Recently, she has created individual columnar sculptures out of shaped sheet acrylic in various colors. Hieratic in their evident simplicity—though including internal forms that reveal themselves on close inspection—these columnar sculptures seems to hover above the floor as they focus, reflect, and refract light. The installation at LACMA includes a dozen such sculptures, all white, simultaneously quiet, elegant, mysterious, and awe-inspiring. Click here to purchase tickets and for additional info.