The sun god Ra is depicted in many works from ancient Egypt. Scientists have discovered properties that explain characteristics of light and color in art. Isaac Newton described how to break white light into constituent wavelengths of colored light, and then to recombine them by passing the colored light through a second prism. Chevreul discovered how adjacent colors affect our perception through his theory of simultaneous contrast. Einstein used light as a constituent in his famous theory E=mc2. Kueppers stated that the majority of information we encounter is in the form of color. Goethe began a quest to understand and explain the phenomena of light. Helmholtz made clear the theory of vibrations. Birren, Albers, Medeiros, Emsley, Hering, Raman, Motokawa, Rood and Munsell all explained light and color perception further. Artists absorbed these ideas about the mechanics of light and color and applied the theories in their art: Pissarro, Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Degas, Sisley, Delacroix, Van Gogh, Vermeer, Seurat, Delaunay, Matisse, Derain, Vlaminck, Van Eyck. All of these journeys of human imagination have led us to contemporary understanding of the complex world of color and its application in art.

Whether we understand light as waves, particles, photons, or some combination of the above, contemporary physicists describe the natural world as an ever-changing matrix where limits are the factor defining phenomena. Theories abound, and theorists are sometimes at odds when they describe their system for explaining how a phenomenon coalesces into light. The human visual system accesses only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and light from 640nm looks red, while light at 540nm looks green, a difference of .000004 of an inch (100 nm). Human beings perceive light as follows: short wavelengths between 400-500nm as blue, medium 450-630 nm as green, long 500-700nm as red. There are peak wavelengths, highly recognized by the human visual system at 420-440, 534-545, and 564-580 wavelengths. The understanding of this science assists the artist in understanding the mechanisms of physics, and its application in art.

The artwork in this exhibition results from the study of light, color, and perception, and the artist has attempted to capture that ephemeral moment when color expresses itself as a thing of mystery, something ineffable. Although the language of light and color can be described with words, that language is best understood through participation with the art. Joseph Beuys taught us through his life’s work that participation in art is the moment when we become one with the conscious intention and expression of the artist. It is this moment of communication between the art itself and the viewer when the art comes alive, acting as a communication device carrying the message of the artist to the participant, transforming the conscious patterns of the viewer.