Table of Contents Manifesto Definitions
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Light Dark
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Light and Dark in Art
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Tone Value Chiaroscuro
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Artists
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Edward Hopper Giorgi Morandi Olive Cotton Zhan Dali Frank Hurley
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Light Art
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Vivid Sydney Earth Hour
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Light Artists
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James Turrell Diet Wiegman
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Symbolism of Light and Dark Poems Comics Interviews Quotes Jokes Idioms Riddles
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Glossary Bibliography
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Montano, B. Polar Bear Watercolour and Digital 2015 Courtesy of artist. 2
Manifesto The ideas of light and dark are fascinating to explore as they relate to everyone, all of the time. They are necessary for our daily lives to function, and within art we use them to make sense of forms and shapes, and to create our artworks. The phenomena of light is endlessly interesting in the many ways it transforms and shapes the landscapes and objects we experience. Light has the power to affect our sense of place by emphasising and altering the tones, colours and textures of our location. In artwork, it can add drama, and its presence or absence can influence mood and tone. There is powerful cultural significance to light and dark too, varying across cultures, and includes good versus bad, light versus dark, black versus white, yin versus yang. At it's core it represents an intense duality and thus is deeply applicable as a symbol. In my art practice, the representation of light and darkness is a central focus as is capturing moments of energy and drama. Interpreting landscapes and still life through painting, printmaking and drawing is what I enjoy. My landscape paintings are of places I feel a personal connection to, such as the Georges River, where I spent my younger years. In depicting still life, I am motivated by the aesthetic qualities and personal meaning of ceramic pieces.
Montano, S. Afternoon Walk Oil on canvas 41x50cm 2014 3 3
Definitions Light
Light is electromagnetic radiation with a certain portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Visible light is usually defined as having a wavelength in the range of 400 nanometre, between the infrared and the ultraviolet. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through Earth’s atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon. The main source of light on Earth is the Sun. Historically, another important source of light for humans has been fire although now electric lighting has all but replaced firelight as a source of light.
Brian Quinn, Photograph National Geographic website 2015 4
The origin is Old English, of Germanic origin and related to Dutch (licht) and German (licht) from an Indo-European root shared by Greek leukos ‘white’ and Latin lux ‘light’.
a natural agent that makes things visible a source of illumination decorative illuminations the amount of quality of light in a place a pale colour
Dark The origin is Old English, of Germanic origin, probably distantly related to German tamen ‘conceal’
with little or no light not reflecting much light; approaching black in shade the absence of light in a place a dark colour or shade, especially in a painting
We are unable to distinguish colour when either light or darkness is dominant. The perception of darkness differs from the mere absence of light due to the effects of after images on perception. In perceiving, the eye is active and that part of the retina that is unstimulated produces a complementary afterimage. In terms of physics, an object is said to be dark when it absorbs photons, causing it to appear dim compared to other objects. For example, a matte black paint does not reflect much visible light and appears dark, whereas white paint reflects much light and appears bright. A dark area has limited light sources, making it hard to see.
Montano, S. Expressway Digital Photograph 2014 5
Exposure to alternating light and darkness (night and day) has caused several evolutionary adaptations to darkness. When a vertebrate, like a human, enters a dark area, its pupils dilate,
allowing more light to enter the eye so as to improve night vision. The light detecting cells in the human eye (rods and cones) will regenerate more unbleached rhodopsin when adapting to darkness. As the moon orbits Earth, it’s changing geometry with the Sun produces the characteristic phases of New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon and Last Quarter. One orbit of the Moon with respect to the Sun has a mean duration of 29.53 days. http://astropixels.com/moon/phases2/ phasesmosaics.html Montano, S. La Perouse Sky Digital Photograph 2014
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Light and Dark in Art Light is manipulated in several ways. In artworks such as painting, drawing, printmaking and photography, the use of light and dark is referred to as value. Tint is known as light hues and shade as dark hues. A ‘value-scale’, as shown below, is used to show the standard variations in tones. Values near the lighter end of the spectrum are termed high-keyed, while those on the darker end are low-keyed.
Tone is how light or dark a colour is, rather than what the actual colour or hue is. Every colour can produce a variety of tones; how light or dark these are depends on the colour. Tones are relative, meaning that how dark or light they seem depends on what is going on around them. A tone that is obviously light in one context may seem darker in another if it is surrounded by even light tones. The range of tones that can be produced varies. Lighter hues (such as yellows) produce a smaller range of tones than darker ones (such as blacks).
“When I have found the relationship of all the tones the result must be a living harmony of all the tones, a harmony not unlike that of a musical composition” Henri Matisse states in his A Painter’s Notes, 1908. Value is the lightness or darkness of a colour or hue. In painting value changes can be achieved by adding either black or white to the chosen colour although this will reduce the saturation and add to the dilution of the colour. Value is important as it is used to create a focal point as the human eye is immediately drawn to a light element against a dark element. To create the illusion of depth, gradations of value are used. Areas of light and dark give a three-dimensional illusion of form to subject matter. It gives the entire composition a sense of lighting. High contrast refers to the placing of lighter areas directly against much darker areas so the difference is highlighted, 7
creating a dramatic effect. High contrast also refers to the presence of more blacks than white or grey. Low contrast images result from placing mid-range values together so there is not a great deal of visible difference between them, creating a more subtle mood. Chiaroscuro is an Italian term that translates to “light/dark”. It is an artistic technique that was popularized during the Italian Renaissance period. In art, the description refers to the use of exaggerated Da Vinci, St. John the Baptist, Oil on walnut light contrasts in order to create the illusion of volume and modeling. This technique involves having the light coming from one predetermined direction so that light and shadow will conform to a set of rules. Some evidence exists that ancient Greek and Roman artists used chiaroscuro effects, however in European painting the technique was first brought to its full potential by Leonardo da Vinci in the late 15th century. Leonardo employed this technique to give a vivid impression of the three dimensionality of his figures.
Da Vinci, Self –portrait in red chalk 1512-15 www.britannica.com
Da Vinci, Lady with an Ermine Oil on wood, 1490 8
The influence of Leonardo’s techniques of chiaroscuro can be seen in the artwork of M ichelangelo M erisi da Caravaggio. Caravaggio was an Italian painter (1571-1610) who used dramatic lighting combined with a realistic observation of the human state. During the late 16th century, chiaroscuro truly came to life in the paintings of Caravaggio. He used deep, dark backgrounds and seemed to turn a spotlight on his figures. The high contrast in the paintings make for intensely powerful and dramatic works of art.
Caravaggio, Conversion of St. Paul, 1601. Odescaichi Balbi
Caravaggio, St. Jerome, 1605-1606, Galleria Borghese, Rome
Chiaroscuro is also depicted in photography and cinematography. It is used to indicate extreme low-key and high-contrast lighting to create distinct areas of light and darkness. Film noir cinema, from Hollywood’s classical period during the 1940s and 1950s, used a low-key black and white visual style. Tim Burton and David Lynch are modern directors renown for their practice of cinematic use of light to create atmosphere and drama. In photography, light and dark is an integral part of the technical process of capturing and developing images in addition to the use of chiaroscuro or "Rembrandt lighting". 9
Photographer Bill Henson uses chiaroscuro to great effect throughout his works, through underexposure and adjustment in printing. His images have a quiet melodrama, his handling of light creates a transcendent effect. Bill Henson, Untitled # 20, 2003
Montano, S. Artist, Digital Photograph 2014
Montano, S. Beth, Digital Photograph 2014
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Artists Edward Hopper Hopper, Self-Portrait, 1906
Edward Hopper (1882–1967) is one of America’s most famous painters. Born in New York into a family who supported his artistic abilities, he studied at the New York School of Art under the direction of Robert Henri. Henri’s influence on Hopper’s work was fundamental, encouraging him to paint scenes from American life. In his works, Hopper poetically expressed the solitude of man confronted to the American way of life as it developed in the 1920’s. Inspired by the movies and particularly by the various camera angles and attitudes of characters, his paintings expose the alienation of mass culture. Done in cold colours and inhabited by anonymous characters, Hoppers paintings also symbolically reflect the Great Depression. Despite his numerous trips to Europe, he remained resistant to the major trends that were influencing painting at the time - cubism and surrealism. Dedicated to a very personal approach to his subjects, he modelled himself on classical painters, such as Rembrandt, Degas and Daumier. His paintings of gas stations, motels, and scenes from everyday life represent an aesthetic testimony to individualism, wide open spaces, and the fundamental values of the American nation.
Hopper used chiaroscuro to great effect. He used light and shadow to create mood and this is central to his methods. Bright sunlight (symbolic of insight or revelation) and the shadows it casts, play symbolically powerful roles in his paintings. His use of chiaroscuro has been compared to the cinematography of film noir. Typically, Hopper depicted slanting light, often illuminating solitary figures within buildings, producing a feeling of melancholy and aloneness.
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“What I wanted to do was paint sunlight on the side of a house” Edward Hopper www.brainyqu ote.com
Hopper E, Morning Sun, 1954 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.english.rfi.frwww
Hopper E, Nighthawks 1942 Oil on canvas 84.1 x 152.4cm Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois www.ibiblio.org 12
Hopper E, Office in a Small City 1953 Oil on canvas 71x102cm Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org
Hopper E, House by the Railroad 1925 Oil on canvas 61x73.7cm Museum of Modern Art NY www.ibiblio.org 13
Always lines, never forms! But where do they find these lines in Nature! For my part I see only forms that are lit up and forms that are not. There is only light and shadow. Francisco de Goya www.georgepratt.wordpress.com
Montano, S. Sunset Acrylic on canvas 50x61cm 2014
Montano, S. The Tasman Sea Acrylic on canvas 50x61cm 2014
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Giorgio Morandi http://gerryco23.wordpress.com
Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964) was an Italian painter and printmaker who predominately studied still life. Morandi was influenced by Cezanne, Derain, Picasso and Giotto, Masaccio, Della Francesca and Uccello.
He focused on subtle gradations of hue and tone on objects arranged in a unifying atmospheric haze. He continuously depicted the same familiar bottles, vases and bowls in paintings notable for their simplicity of execution, developing a style of pure pictorial values comparable to modernist abstraction. His simple and repetitive motifs and economical use of colour, value and surface became an important forerunner of minimalism. In Morandi’s works, light impregnates the objects and radiates out from them in a series of pulsations, reflecting transient effects of light Morandi’s slow contemplation of the objects. His personal emotional response is shown in the chiaroscuros graduated by line, characterising the objects and suggesting their aura. Although widely recognized for his works in still life, he did paint landscapes scenes as well.
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www.artattler.com
Morandi G, Paesaggio di Grizzana, 1932.
Morandi G, Still Life, 1956 www.carpetmoss.wordpress.com 16
'I don't ask for anything except for a bit of peace which is indispensable for me to work’. Morandi
Morandi G, Still Life with Five Objects, 1956. www.theguardian.com
Morandi G, Natura morta 1959, Watercolour, 16.3x20.7cm www.italianways.com
Morandi G, Still Life, Oil on canvas 1956 www.carpetmoss.wordpress.com 17
“Light first, value second, colour third�. Linda Walker www.georgepratt.wordpress.com
Montano, S. Still Life Selection Watercolour on paper 3x12x15cm 2015
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Olive Cotton McInerney, J Olive Cotton 1943 www.joseflebovicgallery.com
Olive Cotton (1911-2003) was a pioneering Australian modernist female photographer of the 1930s and 1940s who worked in Sydney. Her images were personal in feeling with an appreciation of the qualities of light in the surroundings. She shared a studio with Max Dupain, her childhood friend, and exhibited quite frequently.
Cotton’s signature image, Tea cup Ballet, 1935 was acknowledged on a stamp commemorating 150 years of photography in Australia in 1991. In this image she used a technique of backlighting to cast bold shadows towards the viewer to express a dance theme between the shapes of the tea cups, their saucers and their shadows. Capturing images with specific focus on form and light whilst treating her subjects with equivalency are the common elements in Cotton’s photographs. Her gentle and tranquil work is a tribute to nature, science and art.
Cotton, Seed Head, 1990
Cotton, Olive and Max, 1935 19
“This was my first photograph to be shown overseas, being exhibited, to my delight, in the London Salon of Photography in 1935”. Olive Cotton 1995. www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
Cotton, Tea cup ballet 37.9x29.6cm
O Summer sun, O moving trees! O cheerful human noise, O busy glittering street! What hour shall Fate in all the future find, Or what delights, ever to equal these..
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Laurence Binyon ‘O summer sun’
Courtesy www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au
Cotton,Only to taste the warmth, the light, the wind. 1939 33.2x30cm
Paint your picture by means of the lights. Lights define texture and colour – shadows define form. Howard Pyle www.georgepratt.wordpress
Montano, S. Micalong Creek Oil on canvas 76x60cm 2014
Montano S, Last Sunlight. Acrylic and Oil on canvas 60x90cm 2015
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Zhang Dali 张大力 Zhang Dali (b.1963) also known as 18k and AK-47 is a Chinese artist who works in a variety of media. His art highlights the rapid social change that has swept and unsettled China.
Dali, Z 2014
In his artwork, Life 3, shown opposite, he used a process invented in the1840s to create cyanotype prints. He arranged people and objects in front of linen sheets impregnated with light-sensitive chemicals, including cyanide salts (cyan blue). He exposed the staged playlet to sunlight; the reactive cloth converted UV photons into ray paint and within minutes lit areas turned deep blue whilst covered areas stayed white. Once the cloth was washed, the image was fixed permanently yet the people were gone, ’lighted out’ into ghostly silhouettes. The resulting images, of life and love, growth and playing both “exist and don’t exist”, according to Zhang. The subjects are not recognisable yet they convey realities deeper than appearances. Their vagueness invites viewers to insert themselves into the picture, to fill in the blanks with memories of their own.
Dali, Dialog and Demolition, 1998 22
Dali, Life 3, 2011, cyanotype on cotton, 265x300cm www.whiterabbitcollection.org
Dali, Delivery Bicycle, 2011 Cyanotype photogram, 218 x 317cm www.kleinsungallery.com 23 23
Frank Hurley Photo unknown. www.antarctica.gov.au
Frank Hurley (1885-1962) was an Australian photographer and adventurer infamous for his artistic style and memorable images. He was the official photographer on Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911 to 1914. Hurley’s role as photographer was vital as it enabled Mawson to recoup some of the initial outlay for the expedition through photography exhibitions and sales, lantern slide shows and film screenings. At the time, events such as these were very popular.
Photographing in Antarctica was challenging. In the harsh conditions, Hurley’s film became embrittled and metal components on his camera (most likely a Kodak Brownie) froze, leading to frequent painful bouts of frostbite of his hands and fingers. In addition, extreme light levels from the dazzling snow led to a painful affliction known as snow blindness. Hurley also had to deal with the problem of ‘snow pelting on the face which would rapidly cover it with a mask of ice’. The richness of subject matter that this frozen wilderness revealed to Hurley, however, far outweighed such difficulties. In the spirit of adventure that underpins the ethos of the closing days of the era of exploration, Hurley summed up quite simply his experience of Antarctica with Mawson: “We
had been exploring, and had shaken hands with adventure in an unknown land”. Antarctic Views is one of a series of photographs from this expedition in which Hurley captured the grandeur, intensity and purity of Antarctic ice formations. As a pictorialist, his intention was to create beauty in each of his images, both as a work of art and as a commercial item. Antarctic Views is a monotone carbon photograph. In the foreground there is a monstrous ice mass with sheer cliffs and broken sections of ice. The ice is transformed by elements; eroded, weathered, breaking down. This mass enters from the left side and spreads horizontally, encompassing two-thirds of the entire image. It is in the foreground, with a second similar ice mass in the background, much diminished in size due to aerial perspective. 24
The large mass of ice is angular in the top half where sections appear to have fallen vertically. The collapsed ice sits at the bottom of the structure, loose and soft, powdered snow. The huge scale of the ice structure is emphasised by the angle that the image was taken, from a boat looking upwards. Edges of the cliff are lit with light, defining shapes and textures. The second ice shelf is to the right, much smaller in size and significance yet remarkable. Antarctic Views is beautiful, dramatic yet soft, solid yet fragile. The light is natural, the lightest areas being where light falls on the ice. Overall, the image is mainly mid toned.with contrasting dark areas in the water, darkest in the shadow under the ice shelf. Texture is varied; the water is choppy and smooth, clouds are soft, the ice looks rough, smooth, sharp, fluffy and angular. Horizontal lines define the ice mass, marking the top, underneath and across the ice cliffs, whilst vertical lines are in the edges of the broken rectangular sections. The use of perspective highlights the magnificence of the landscape with the main ice cliff in focus and the secondary one less focused. There is a deep depth of field. Hurley enhanced his images by using manipulation techniques in the darkroom, masking and combining negatives to create a composite photograph. This is seen in the clouds that fan out almost symmetrically from behind the iceberg, softly backlit. The result is stunningly beautiful.
Hurley, Antarctic View, 1912 Carbon photograph The Photograph and Australia 2015 25
Montano S Gloaming Oil on Plywood 20x20cm 2015
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Montano S Still Life Deconstructed Oil on Plywood 20x20cm 2015
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Montano S An Allegiance Acrylic on Linen 50x40cm 2014 28
Light Art Light art is a form of visual art where the main medium of expression is light. With the invention of electrical artificial light, creative possibilities expanded and many artists began to use light as a form of expression.
Vivid Sydney is an annual 18 day festival of light, music and ideas held during May and June. Sydney is transformed into a wonderland of ‘light art’ in the dark of night sculptures, innovative light installations and grand scale light projections.
www.starcentralmagazine.com/wha ts-hot/2012/06/19/all-the-brightlights-in-sydney-at-the-vividfestival/ Howe, N. Flickr: Vivid Sydney 2011
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Earth Hour is a worldwide movement for the plant organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The event is held annually encouraging individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn off their nonessential lights for one hour, from 8.30 to 9.30pm on the last Saturday in March as a symbol for their commitment to the planet. Beginning in Sydney in 2007, it has since grown to involve more than 7000 cities and towns around the world.
Fewings.ca
www.sailcorp.com.au 30 30
Light Artists James Turrell James Turrell (b.1943) is an American artist primarily concerned with light and space. He has been making art from light since the 1960s. Turrell manipulates light rather than paint or sculptural material. His art is an experience in perception, examining the very nature of seeing.
We eat light, drink it in through our skins. With a little more exposure to light, you feel part of things physically. I like the power of light and space physically because then you can order it materially. Seeing yourself seeing is a very sensuous act—there’s a sweet deliciousness to feeling yourself see something. James Turrell www.nga.gov.au
Turrell Two Visitors 2014
Turrell The Light Inside 1999 31
Some more artists who work with light are Carlos Cruz-Diaz, Froncois Morellet,, David Batchelor, Stephen Huber and Diet Wiegman.
Carlos Cruz-Diez Chromosaturation 1965-2013
Froncois Morellet Lamentable 2006
“The subject matter, my dear good fellow, is the light� Claude Monet www.georgepratt.wordpress
Stephan Huber Two horses for Munster 2002
David Batchelor You and I Horizontal 2005 32 32
Wiegman Turning plant 1992
Wiegman, D. Shadow dancing 2008
Diet Wiegman’s stacks and leans, molds and forms pieces of mixed media to appear entirely ambiguous. It is only when presented in the perfect light that these vague sculptures reveal the most accurate placement of individual pieces. Through contoured lines, shapes, and sometimes color, the Dutch artist is able to embody well-known art figures and build some of his own as well. Wiegman has been working with this form of shadow play for fifty years.
Montano S, Reflection Analogue Photograph 20x25cm 2014 33
Symbolism of Light and Dark The hues white and black are widely used to depict opposites and contrasting forces, referred to as dualism. Visually, white and black offer a high contrast, symbolising the dichotomy of good and evil, metaphorically related to light and darkness and day and night. The dichotomy of light and darkness appears in the Pythagorean Table of Opposites. Light and dark are represented in literature from the divine proclamation of “Let there be light” in the first book of the Bible, to harrowing passages of loss in contemporary literature. Darkness and light in the classical canon typically represent two opposing forces of nature, whether good and evil, knowledge and ignorance, love and hate or happiness and despair. The book of Genesis begins with God’s separation of the light from the dark. This separation originates in the cosmos but describes man’s moral state in both the Old and New Testaments. Light is assigned the good and darkness is assigned the evil. In Isaiah 5:20, the prophet warns, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” In this sense, light becomes God's absolute law, and darkness the unequivocal rejection of that law. 34
Mandor,, 2008 www.toonpool.com/cartoons/Genesis
In classical literature, light is often synonymous with love, especially the overwhelming power of the physical emotion. As light can blind, so can love. One notable example of this use is evident in William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” which relies heavily on the symbol of light to describe the emotional state of the young lovers. In the famous balcony scene of Act 2, Romeo first sees Juliet as the sun itself, as the ultimate source of life: “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? / It is the east and Juliet is the sun!" Sun, moon and star metaphors appear throughout the play, evoking love’s illuminating, sometimes bewildering power. http://wurstwisdom.co m/picsbehd/shakespe are-allusions-incartoons
In mythology, the underworld was imagined as a chthonic place of darkness compared to the celestial realm of the gods. Christian notions of heaven and hell reflect this notion, as do the ‘dark angels’ and halos. Authors have played with the distinctions of light and dark for as long as others have reinforced their separateness. The romantics and existentialists viewed darkness as a necessary condition of life -- not only essential to any true fullness of being, but also essential to human freedom. Darkness, in a way, became the space in which man faced his greatest horrors and determined his own fate
Gasbergen 2007. www.glasbergen.com
White often represents purity or innocence in Western culture. Traditionally, brides wear white, as do angels. Bad cowboys wear black hats while the good ones wear white. Villains are dressed in black, heroines in white. Evil witches are stereotypically dressed in black, good fairies in white. Other examples of dualism are: yin and yang, Dark Ages versus Age of Enlightenment and the Ouroboros. 35
Poems Part Five: The Single Hound LXXIX Emily Dickinson (1830–86). Complete Poems. 1924.
I see thee better in the dark, I do not need a light. The love of thee a prism be Excelling violet.
I see thee better for the years That hunch themselves between, The miner’s lamp sufficient be To nullify the mine.
And in the grave I see thee best— Its little panels be A-glow, all ruddy with the light I held so high for thee!
What need of day to those whose dark Hath so surpassing sun, It seem it be continually At the meridian?
“Available light is any damn light that is available”. W.Eugene Smith www.georgepratt.wordpress.com 36
A Light in the Dark Cody O’Hara Montano, S. Sunshine on My Shoulder Etching 16.5x13cm 2013
A light in the dark Safety from shadows Fiends stand stark in the light
A light in the dark A shot? Always darkness Forever fear
A light in the dark Humanities savior Death its neighbor
Montano, S. Syd Analogue Photograph 25x20cm 2013
A light in the dark No more light On the run In the darkness lost forever
Found a new light All is alright Until fiends come again
But don't give in Have hope Don't succumb, don't become For there is...
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A Light in the Dark
Comics
The creators of The Light and Darkness War comics are writer Tom Veitch and artist Cam Kennedy. The series chronicles the adventures of a disabled Vietnam veteran who is transported to an afterlife dimension in a never-ending war.
www.lightanddarknesswar.com 38
Montano, S. Eastern Cape Oil on board 2015
Montano, S. Flower still life Acrylic on board 30x30cm 2015
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Interviews What does light and dark mean to you? Nothing, really. Night time, day time, lights on, lights off Bernie Chiaroscuro. I think of variation, depth of character, reality. Everyone has light and dark. Beth In what context? Brightness of an object, how much light is reflected off an object. Light represents hope and happiness. Dark represents a lack of hope. Harry Happiness and depression A nighttime scene with a spotlight Jenny Morning and evening Joanne Brightness, contrast, dramatic effect. Darkness represents evil or a villain in movies. Lightness represents the hero. Nathan Day and night Rebecca Headlights in the dark Anne I really couldn’t say. Let me think about that. Siri Dark is moody, deep. Light is happy, white, sunny. Kate Kentridge Procession Ink of paper 2000
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Quotes “But you must know that only he who fights the darkness within will the day after tomorrow have his own share in the sun.” Odysseus Elytis, The Axion Esti“ “Surrounded by darkness yet enfolded in light” Alan Brennert “When lost in darkness he who lights the way, marks himself as easy prey.” Mark W. Boyer “I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again, so that there is really only one logical conclusion. I need darkness as much as I need light.” Barbara Brown Taylor, Learning to Walk in the Dark “I preach darkness. I don't inspire hope—only shadows. It's up to you to find the light in my words.” Charles Lee “The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness”. Vladimir Nabokov “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that”. “Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness”. Chinese Proverb
Kentridge, Portage, Ink on paper, 2000 41
Montano, B. The Joker, Acrylic on Paper 2013 Courtesy of artist
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Jokes How many existentialists does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to change the lightbulb and one to observe how the lightbulb symbolises an incandescent beacon of subjectivity in a netherworld of Cosmic Nothingness. How many archaeologists does it take to change a light bulb? Are you kidding?! Why would we let them do that?! The broken bulb is a national treasure, pointing to our rich, rich history and culture. No, we would rather build a shrine there, and charge admission to see the 'ancient luminosity device'...hmmm, maybe we could even sell little figurines‌ How many software people does it take to screw in a light bulb? None. That's a hardware problem. How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the bulb has got to really WANT to change. How many actors does it take to change a light bulb? Only one. They don't like to share the spotlight. How many astronomers does it take to change a light bulb? None. Astronomers prefer the dark.
Poole, R. Ocean Beach, 2012 www.kingsartshow.com.au
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Montano S Cataract Gorge Acrylic on canvas 50x40cm 2015 44
Idioms light of your life the person you love the most light someone’s fire to cause someone to be attracted or exciting a guiding light a person who guides or acts as a mentor to others green light to approve or allow something out like a light to fall asleep very quickly red-light district a place where there is a lot of prostitution. see the light to realise something is the truth
Banksy, Girl with Balloon, stencil www.stencilrevolution.com 45
Montano, S. Light Moments Digital Photograph 2014
46 Montano, S. Transient Light Digital Photograph 2014
Riddles Lovely and round, I shine with pale light, Grown in the darkness, A lady’s delight. What am I?
Light hides me and darkness kills me. What am I?
You can find us in darkness but never in light. We are present in daytime but absent at night. In the deepest of shadows, we hide in plain sight. What am I?
I'm light, I'm dark. I'm not always around. Sometimes I'm half and sometimes I'm full. What am I?
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Answers: A pearl, It didn’t happen at night, shadow,the letter Dthe moon
A big black dog stood in the middle of a black road. There were no street lights above the road. An old car with broken headlights drove towards the dog but turned in time before he hit it. How did the driver see the dog in time?
Montano S Eastern Cape Oil on Board 40x60cm 2015
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Glossary Artificial light: lamp light Blended tone: merged shades Cast Shadow: The dark area that results when the source of light has been intercepted by an object. Chiaroscuro: shading Contrast: dark and light together Deep tone: dark Dim: dull, not bright Graded Wash: A wash that smoothly changes in value from dark to light. Graduated tone: gradually lighter/darker Highlight: light tones Key: The lightness (high key) or darkness (low key) of a painting. Lightfast: A pigments resistance to fading on long exposure to sunlight Mid tone: between light and dark. Monochromatic: A single colour in all it’s values. Natural light: sun light Nocturnal: awake at night Opaque: no light passes through Shaded: tonal Shadow: a patch of darkness Tonal range: a range of tones Tonal scale: a range of tones Translucent: light passes through Transparent: see through Values: The relative lightness or darkness of colours or of greys Wash: A transparent layer of diluted colour. 49
Casali, C. Series Fray, 60cx50cm Watercolour on Aluminium Composite Board Courtesy of artist 50
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