July 1– October 10, 2010

A Certain Slant of Light: New Works by Cyndee Howard and Lisa Schulte is a two-person exhibition exploring the notion of light as a formal as well as thematic concern. The title, A Certain Slant of Light, is borrowed from a poem by Emily Dickinson, revealing an intimate, yet complex investigation into the nature of light as a spiritual, psychological, and physical theme. In this case, both artists address a similar medium via their own art making practices, resulting in remarkable works that form a compelling visual interplay between artists and processes. 

An accomplished photographer, Howard uses the camera as a way to articulate her thoughts and desires. In past work, Howard photographed landscapes and still lifes as well as producing large-scale works based on fashion, history, and autobiographical subject matter. She describes her worldview as two-fold, “the one within whirling, dashing, jumping from thought to thought or emotion to emotion and then one very still, very quiet observing everything outside and around me while trying to remain invisible. One is very logical and mathematical, one very lyrical and mystical. Sometimes they meet.” This ideological stance produces work that embraces and absorbs a multitude of seemingly contradictory stimuli.

Schulte has worked with neon lights for the last thirty years as an industrial designer and artist. As with Howard and photography, Schulte understands neon sculpture as a way to “tell the story, show the shapes, and communicate feelings.” She cites Augustus Hare, who said, “Light when suddenly let in, dazzles and hurts and almost blinds us; but this soon passes away and it seems to become the only element we can exist in.” After a period away from making neon, the works in this exhibition evolved out of a personal struggle to move from a dark period back into the light and to find her voice as an artist. This new series of sculptures may be described as abstractions, but they nevertheless reference a particular desire to convey thoughts and emotions to the audience.

In creating large neon work, Schulte begins with an initial idea or vision that she visualizes in the form of light. Then, she determines whether it is technically possible to re-create that vision using the medium of neon: gas, glass, and fluorescent powders.

Cyndee Howard, I see red…, 2010, Photograph printed on aluminum, 20” x 26”

These ideas ultimately take three-dimensional form as geometric shapes such as squares, triangles, or squiggles against metal backgrounds. Technically challenging, neon is unlike other media where a mistake in the initial stages may become a happy accident. With neon, one error has the potential to ruin the entire sculpture.

Aesthetically, Schulte’s inspiration derives from modern and contemporary artists who use color and light (such as Dan Flavin and James Turrell) and her work is also often monochromatic, focusing on one color story per piece. However, her industrial design practice, which provides rich creative exchanges when producing neon for cinematographers, production designers, art directors, and special effects artists, has given the artist a technical agility that allows the works to be created in complex form and large scale, staggeringly impressive to behold.

As discussed, the artist describes the creation of this body of work as part of a larger healing process. She explains, “It has been a spiritual journey which has allowed me to honor my own experience and vision as a human and an artist altogether new ways. The pieces in this show are deeply personal and have been profoundly influenced by my experience in Jungian analysis and the transformation I have undergone in the past year.”

For this exhibition, Howard was motivated to create a new series of photographs inspired by the luminescent, abstract sculptures in Schulte’s Los Angeles studio. This became the original idea for a two-person showing of both artists’ works; a demonstration of the collaborative spirit between two artists working to find similar expressions using their own media. Howard described, “We have bounced many ideas off of one another, and physically Lisa has helped me to obtain certain shots I needed. I would not have gone in this direction without her insight and sharing of personal experience. She pushed me when I needed it, and gave me good critical advice and applause to keep me going. “

Howard’s color infused, glossy prints on aluminum use relatively normal photographic techniques. Each was shot with higher end digital equipment and lenses, reflective materials, and the use of both ambient light and the lighting emanating from the neon. The artist describes the process as an investigation into pushing the limits of shooting light for the sake of light, experimenting with aperture, focal settings, film speeds, camera shake, and other variations.

While generally inspired by color, light and rhythm, Howard cites a diverse array of cultural influences such as guitarist Gabor Szabo, artists Francisco Goya, Hieronymus Bosch, Man Ray, Alice Neal, and her former instructor Howard Warshaw. An avid art collector and artist, Howard engages in a rigorous study of art and culture, evidenced in this new body of work. The photographs in this exhibition display an overt sensuousness and dazzling display of light. Colors, densities, and textures morph and drip with the refractions of light across the visual field of her compositions. Her intention is to get the viewer to perceive light in a different way, likening it to our own personal states of change. She says, “You can see the neon gas as it moves through the tubes in places, and you can see imperfections in the glass that is channeling the light. We are not perfect, but we work at improving ourselves, getting to deep dark shadows within and lighting them so they will not control us.”

Both Howard and Schulte observe an internal processing of emotions (including angst, love, anger, lust, sweetness, and spirituality) as thematic basis for working with the concept of light. In fact, they select psychologically concentrated titles for their works, like growth... and I cannot escape for Howard or Processing for Schulte



Cyndee Howard, growth…, 2010, Photograph printed on aluminum, 30”x 30”

and allude to the works as vehicles for self-realization and discovery. It is noteworthy that the artists chose a form (neon and light) normally reserved for public venues and used to attract attention, for private explorations of self. The bursts of color and light found in both bodies of work create a compelling tension between private and personal, sacred and profane that engages the viewer both optically as well as experientially. The works dramatize the intense feeling of spiritual sensation brought on by a simple “slant of light.” As Dickinson observed,

There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons
That oppresses, like the heft
Of cathedral tunes.
Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings, are.
None may teach it anything,
‘Tis the seal, despair,
An imperial affliction
Sent us of the air.
When it comes, the landscape listens,
Shadows hold their breath;
When it goes, ‘tis like the distance
On the look of death.

– Miki Garcia

Miki Garcia has been the executive director of the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum since 2006.

Design by Myopia

Lisa Schulte, bella…, 2010, White neon mounted on white aluminum, 50” x 50”

Acknowledgments:

Connie Crosby
Lynn Innerest
Chris Alcaraz
Hector Martinez
Teha Eliassen
Judy Rys
Todd Eliassen
Brian Currie
Jorge Rameriz

Cover image: Cyndee Howard, I cannot escape, 2010, Detail, Photograph printed on aluminum, 32” x 48”