The unique part of the work is the after image. No one knows why this is happening. The extraordinary thing is that on paper the viewer sees strong aqua and violet after images. In the print, one is getting more than the eye can see. It is, itself, a completely new work of art. - Helen Pashgian
The Lapis Press is honored to have collaborated with Helen Pashgian on three different limited print editions that continue the artist's exploration of color and optical perception. The latest edition, Untitled (the Red Lens), recreates on paper the mystical effect that Pashgian's lenses have in a controlled environment. Like the earlier edtitions, Untitled (the Orange Lens) and Untitled (the Green Lens), this print on paper captures the "presences in space" with its evolving vibration of color.
In Untitled (the Green Lens), 2024, pink flashes appear around the green edges and into the borders of the print and in Untitled (the Orange Lens), 2024, the orange disc seems to grow and diminish in the viewer's perception, while at times, the turquoise halo around the disc is the most prominent visual phenomenon. Untitled (the Red Lens), 2026 has the same optical effect on the viewer, with a vibrant teal aura appearing within the image. Each edition transforms the print into an environment and recreates on an intimate scale the ephemeral visual experience of viewing one of Pashgian's polished lenses.
Helen Pashgian is a pioneer and pre-eminent member of the 1960s Light and Space movement in Southern California. Like her colleagues Robert Irwin and James Turrell, Pashgian changed the course of art by arguing that a work is not defined merely by what is in the frame but is rather made in the perceptual system of the viewer. That is why for Pashgian, an artist needs to take into account the entire space of the viewing experience where control and precision create the viewing phenomenon of Pashgian's lens work. These three limited editions affirm Pashgian's enduring contribution to the Light and Space movement and her continued exploration of visual consciousness.
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