Critical Studies: Visions of Hope: Color and Light in Contemporary Art

9 units · Undergraduate

Intermittent: 9 units What can color and light do in a world in crisis? Can they offer more than beauty? Can they become technologies of hope, resilience, connection, and repair? This course explores how artists use color and light to imagine and materially construct other ways of seeing and being in the world. We will consider the luminous environments of James Turrell, the exuberant chromatic worlds of Beatriz Milhazes, the immersive repetitions of Yayoi Kusama, the geometric investigations of Frank Stella, the fantastical sculptural worlds of Nick Cave, the layered histories and vibrant forms of Firelei B and #225;ez, the charged visual languages of Nina Chanel Abney, and the architectural and psychological spaces of Do Ho Suh, among others. The course will combine close looking, readings, case studies, artist presentations, discussion, and writing assignments, encouraging students to develop both a critical vocabulary for contemporary art and their own ideas about the transformative potential of color and light.