Beyond Light: Bill Culbert & Liliane Lijn

Bill Culbert and Liliane Lijn both began working with light in the 1960s.

This exhibition of their work included major pieces by each artist, investigating different aspects of light. American-born artist Lijn (b.1939) has referred to her sculptures as transformers, “whether real, as in the refraction of light through prisms, or virtual, as in the metaphorical code of the Linear Light Columns.” Lijn wrote: “In all my work I try to reveal the Infinite in the Particular.”

The work of New Zealand artist Culbert (b.1935) included in the exhibition investigated concepts of reality and image of light. Several works were concerned with the light bulb as both source and image. Culbert’s works Outline, Celeste, and Bulb Box attempted to go beyond ‘identification’ and ‘usefulness’.