The relationship between light and colour has long been one of the most essential elements in the history of art. Artists have found ways to transmit, generate and even pulsate light through simple techniques of manipulating colour intensity, brushstroke and pattern.
Spectacular optical displays can occur in nature when extreme geographical and atmospheric conditions collide. In the Antarctic, freezing temperatures and low humidity produce dancing columns of light of various hues known as the auroras. Even more elusive and strange are the Marfa lights. Rare Sightings of these ghostly lights describe brightly coloured glowing balls floating above the ground: a sort of mirage possibly caused by sharp temperature gradients between cold and warm layers of air. Halos, or ice bows, are another optical phenomena that appear near or around the Sun or Moon, and are caused by light refracted through ice crystals in cold clouds.
The artists in this exhibition, while exploiting the nature of light, are also exploring the mysteries of optical phenomena and the mechanism of the retina in the reception of visual images.