The Intention of Light

The American artist Erika Blumenfeld cherishes a fascination for light, not so much as a metaphor, but as a pure medium. She develops extremely inventive techniques to introduce the theme of light in her work. For instance she uses a procedure in which photography is reduced to the most essential ingredients: light and light-sensitive material. Her work generally looks very minimalist. For the video Moving Light: Lunation 1011, she used a converted telescope to register the light of the moon by holding photographic film by hand during exposure. Her latest work Prismatic Refractions is also made up of an accumulation of photographic images. Blumenfeld: ‘Since the start of western art, the function, appearance and phenomenon of light have been the basis of the creative life of many artists. Some concentrate on the logical connotations of purity, infinity and the spiritual. Others manifest a more scientific interest to reproduce the world better, such as the painter Johannes Vermeer or the Impressionists.’ Blumenfeld herself prefers to talk about ‘the intention of light’, the most direct possible print of the phenomenon as such.
Programme: Light Recording: Spring 2005 (2005), Light Recording: Spring 2005 (2005), Moving Light: Lunation 1011 (2004), Prismatic Refraction: Autumn (2006)