Snap a selfie, a landscape, or a photo of your pet. Did you use light to enhance the image—even if you weren’t aware you were doing so? Across genres and mediums, light is as important in art today as it was hundreds of years ago. The contemporary artists featured on these pages explore light to creatively illuminate their ideas.
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Radiant Ideas
How do today’s artists play with light?
Keegan Monaghan (b. 1986). The Dream, 2016-2017. Oil on canvas, 61 1/4x67 1/8in. (155x170cm). Image courtesy of James Fuentes.
How does Monaghan use light as a guide in his surreal work?
Dreaming in Color
Keegan Monaghan (KEE-gen MON-uh-han) is known for his large-scale oil paintings. His 2016-2017 The Dream, above, is almost 6 feet wide and 6 feet tall. In this surreal painting, the Brooklyn-based artist layers colorful images from a dream on top of a darkened bedroom.
Monaghan paints a cropped figure sleeping in the foreground. He adds highlights in a grid pattern to show light shining through a window outside the picture plane. The artist paints a rug, an alarm clock, and other objects found in a typical home.
In the cloud-like shape above the bed, Monaghan creates a semi-translucent dreamscape. He layers mountains, a meteor, and a cropped figure on top of the outlined objects in the room. Monaghan uses light, color, and images to capture the layered nature of an unconscious mind.
Susan Grossman (b. 1959). The Bicyclist, 2015. Charcoal and pastel on paper, 60x70in. (152x179cm). Courtesy of Susan Grossman.
How does Grossman render artificial light in her cityscape?
City Lights
New York City-based artist Susan Grossman finds her inspiration on walks through the city’s neighborhoods. In her 2015 The Bicyclist, she uses charcoal and pastel crayons to depict an energetic street scene at night.
One of the most significant aspects of a cityscape at night is the presence of artificial light. Grossman applies white pastel to portray streetlights and headlights throughout the monochromatic scene. She uses charcoal to render the pedestrians and their shadows on the road. Tiny specks of light appear in the windows of dark buildings looming in the background.
Grossman often uses her hands to smear pastel across the paper, capturing delicate trails of light. But her secret tool is a paper towel. She prefers it to an artist’s cloth because it creates a texture that “isn’t so smooth.”
Chatchai Puipia (b. 1964). A Lost Siamese, 2002. Oil on linen, 45x57in. (114x145cm). Art Stage Singapore 2013. Courtesy Chatchai Puipia Image courtesy of 100 Tonson Gallery.
How does Puipia experiment with highlights and shadows in his self-portrait?
Portrait Performance
Chatchai Puipia (CHAH-cheye pyoo-ee-PEE-uh) lives and works in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. The artist is interested in the performative ways people present themselves to the world. For his 2002 A Lost Siamese, above, Puipia uses light to craft an expressive self-portrait.
Puipia portrays himself making an exaggerated facial-expression. His eyes pop wide open, and he presses his mouth into a close-lipped smile. The artist uses highlights and shadows to emphasize the detailed contours in his facial expression.
With both warm and cool colors, Puipia paints the creases around his mouth, eyes, and cheeks. He adds rows of lines across his forehead above raised eyebrows. Notice the bright white reflection on the tip of his nose. The artist gives his skin the appearance of clay, as if he is sculpting his skin, rather than painting it.
Puipia sees his art as an exploration of how people perform. “Communicating and participating in today’s world can lead to despair,” Puipia says. “Often, the only thing I can do in response is smile.”
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