During the 1960s and 1970s, a loosely affiliated group of Los Angeles artists--including Larry Bell, Mary Corse, Robert Irwin, James Turrell, and Doug Wheeler--more intrigued by questions of perception than by the crafting of discrete objects, embraced light as their primary medium. Whether by directing the flow of natural light, embedding artificial light within objects or architecture, or playing with light through the use of reflective, translucent, or transparent materials, each of these artists created situations capable of stimulating heightened sensory awareness in the receptive viewer. Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface, companion book to the exhibition of the same name, explores and documents the unique traits of the phenomenologically engaged work produced in Southern California during those decades and traces its ongoing influence on current generations of international artists.

Foreword by Hugh M. Davies

Additional contributors:

Michael Auping

Stephanie Hanor

Adrian Kohn

Dawna Schuld



Artists:

Peter Alexander

Larry Bell

Ron Cooper

Mary Corse

Robert Irwin

Craig Kauffman

John McCracken

Bruce Nauman

Eric Orr

Helen Pashgian

James Turrell

De Wain Valentine

Doug Wheeler

Robin Clark is Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

Hugh M. Davies is Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.

“Impressive. . . . Most notable for including many large-scale, immersive works that are rarely shown to the public.”—Southern California Quarterly

“Beautifully illustrated and impressively researched. . . . Represents an important contribution to the deepening of scholarship on this still poorly understood yet fundamental dimension of postwar Los Angeles art.”—Choice

“Of the many superb books related to ‘Pacific Standard Time,’ Phenomenal is among the most elegant.”—Art In America

"What the show and its excellent catalogue accomplish is both substantial and memorable. They reassert the stature of the genre's most brilliant practitioner, critically resuscitate a reputation too little known today, provide an expansive context of related work (especially colored sculpture) and offer abundant supporting material and at the end, provide an unexpected but provocative twist.”—Los Angeles Times

“The Light and Space movement—of great importance to my development as a young artist—is far more than a valid art historical reference. It translates matters of psychology, phenomenology, criticality, emotional investment, and now-ness into an immaterial language that is both subversive and compelling. Light and Space is as contemporary as ever.”

—Olafur Eliasson

Exhibition dates:
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego
September 25, 2011–January 22, 2012