In my Radiance Suite, I turned to one of favorite artists, James Turrell, for inspiration. If you have time, watch the video in that link. His work is powerfully centered on the presence and pulse of light.

I tried to mimic some of his effects through simple color studies. These were meant to be simple, experimental, playful works. Each of my pieces has a basic structure of red against blue, exploring the push and pull of cool and warm colors. I added other colors as I saw fit, continually working the surface back and forth with a brayer until each color glowed and merged with those around it.

As the prints developed, I experimented with subtle patterns and shifts in hue. I used the same plate for all the prints, so the colors from previous prints would subtly blend with those in the one I was currently working on.

I'm attracted to the idea of Radiance because it suggests a mix of both temporality and stability. To be radiant, something must have a source that radiates, either internal or external. A fire may be radiant in itself, but a lake only becomes radiant when the sun rises or the moon glows. Two very different situations are bound together by that same property of radiation. Radiance gives light and reflects light; it connects, heals, and unifies.

Radiance is also temporary. It pulses, it changes. It fades, then shimmers back all the more glorious. It pulls you in, then pools up before your eyes and slowly expels you out. As I photographed these works, I tried to limit and preserve their radiance with my camera. But the joy of something being radiant is that it is active. It participates within its surroundings as a complex and beautiful thing.

We live in a fundamentally radiant world, where we share in the splendor of the things around us. We pause to consider the radiance of a soft fire, a dawn-lit lake, a wash of painted color, and somewhere in the soul there is joy.

(If you would like to see the gallery with the full suite, click here)

Ryan