The invention of the light bulb infamously extended the world’s workday, but for artists it changed the nature of work itself. Prior to unlimited, easily-manipulated lighting, art was made by, for, and of the temperamental illuminations of sunshine and firelight. Natural light was crucial but elusive, a combination that made it an artists’ obsession. On the canvas especially, light was almost its own person; Painters from Caravaggio to Renoir based their technique on an inspired representation of light.
     Given what a revelation electric light was, it’s not surprising that artists almost immediately turned to depicting the actual bulb. Burning, Bright: A Short History of the Light Bulb, at the Pace Gallery through November 26th, examines this impulse in artists across media. In a circus tent scene, Calder positioned the spotlight as an omnipotent god in stark gouache. Lichtenstein sculpted light rays as a solid mass, a brazenly colored object. Then there are those who used bulbs as the medium: Arman’s assembled chandelier, Noble and Webster’s billboard-style blinking lights, and a neon scrawl by Keith Sonnier standing for the light sculpture movement.
     Though the miracle of technological advancement is at the heart of Burning, Bright, the exhibition leaves open the question at the conclusion of the light bulb’s story: the fact that today it is unsustainable. We are asked to consider how our sight was changed by the birth of the light bulb in the face of its death.

Click for Slideshow