light-as-painting-1971.jpg (1969) Painting by James Jp Hawkins
Not For Sale
Sold by James Jp Hawkins
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Original Artwork
Painting,
Other
- Dimensions Height 60in, Width 50in
- Categories Paintings under $20,000 Minimalism
Circa 1969 I was taking a class at UC Irvine called Physics for Artists. I was also taking art classes with Ed Moses & other West Coast Minimalists. I, of course, began thinking about how I could juxtapose Minimalism with Physics. I first began using light as a painting. In the Physics Department, I had access to far more equipment to fashion my art. I shortly after began making machines which used sound as sculpture and I created kinetic machines which had hidden reversing polarity magnets which created motion while interacting with permanent magnets. The museums I showed in required special insurance riders to show my light paintings due to the fact that contained open electric wires and nichrome wires which I shielded with glass plates. Instead of standing behind a velvet cord, all of my electronic pieces invited the interaction of the viewers who became artists themselves (ala Dadaism) by turning the pieces on and or manipulating them with rheostats.