A key and pioneering member of the Light and Space group, Pashgian creates sculptures made of industrial materials such as resin, fiberglass, plastic, and coated glass. The luminous properties of these materials reflect her longstanding interest in the effects and perception of light. This particular sculpture was created by heating large sheets of acrylic until they became soft, like fabric. Then she wrapped each softened sheet around a wooden mold and allowed it to harden again. Each of the column’s elements is made up of two such molded forms, which are then further enhanced. Despite their evident simplicity, the sculpture reveals its internal form and color as one moves around it, even as it seems to hover above the floor focusing, reflecting, and refracting light. Pashgian says, “I think of the columns as ‘presences’ in space—presences that do not reveal everything at once. One must move around to observe changes: coming and going, appearing and receding, visible and invisible—a phenomenon of constant movement. It touches on the mysterious, the place beyond which the eye cannot go.”
The Brooklyn Rail | February 2020 | In Conversation
Helen Pashgian with Michael Straus
New York Times | November 2021 | The Confounding Lightness of Helen Pashgian
Helen Pashgian with Lawrence Weschler
