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Hap Tivey: Leukos Transit
Elizabeth Leach Gallery
Portland OR Dec 1-Jan 21, 2006
Hap Tivey, Arctic Portrait (2005) LED light and acrylic [Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland OR, Dec 1-Jan 21]
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In unique light-screen paintings, Hap Tivey integrates light and color with other elements of science and a spiritual interest in the meditative qualities of Eastern philosophy. Like Mark Rothko, Tivey is particularly interested in the way light affects painted colour. He uses LED lights inside structures similar to light boxes to radiate colour from within the works. The misty surfaces are intriguing. The colours are lucid but the ambiguous forms they create appear transitory and weightless. Glowing fields set against serene horizontal lines are reminiscent of sunsets or vast landscapes without actually being representational.
This Portland-born artist is associated with the California “Light and Space” artists. Tivey studied physics, math and art at Pomona College, with subsequent studies at Claremont Graduate School where he was a teaching assistant for James Turrell in 1971. In an early collaboration, Tivey and Turrell created the large-scale Fire Pieces. These provided a framework for later installations by both artists. During the 1970s, Tivey studied in Japan at a Zen monastery.
Hap Tivey, Sand Garden, (2005) LED light and acrylic [Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland OR, Dec 1-Jan 21] Courtesy of Elizabeth Leach Gallery
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Hap Tivey’s work has been exhibited internationally and is included in such prominent collections as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. He created the window installation for the Elizabeth Leach Gallery when it moved to its new space in 2004.
www.elizabethleach.com
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