Influence...or anxiety?

I keep coming across wonderful light work I didn't know about. When I first saw Eliasson's work in 2007 I was crushed. I was finally moving from representing light to using light as medium and I wondered how I would continue when this fabulous work was already out there. Just thinking about all the differences possible in the use of paint or pencil ought to have set me straight, but it took a moment to absorb and fine tune.











Diane Landry Flying School, 2005 (on show at the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, NC 2005 - 2006)
This photo quality is not good, but you can just see the real effect is up on the ceiling above.





Alexander Gutke, Shattered, 2001 - 2007 (Sies + Hoke Gallery, Dusseldorf)
Simple and beautiful.

In this respect it was enlightening to visit "SLASH : Paper under the knife" in NYC last year. To see all the work being made of paper - a lot of it cut paper - highlighted the multiple approaches possible within the same medium.



There was some beautiful work in the Paper exhibition, but to me the pieces with a strong conceptual approach really shone. I'm including this image as it is similar to one she had in that show.