In the Dark

In visual art, darkness is the result of many factors: the interplay of hue and tint; the reflective qualities of a medium or a surface; the way light interacts with texture. But is darkness only a visual condition? Or is it also a mindset, or a state of existence? That is a question of interpretation, and a subject for contemplation. Nearly every artist wrestles with darkness, visually and otherwise. Some devote almost their entire oeuvre to it, for example the epic, Abstract Expressionist sculptures of Louise Nevelson, the monochromatic black paintings of Ad Reinhardt, or the complex, all-black works of Pierre Soulages.

Here we present dark artworks that, in various way and for various reasons, convey a sense of darkness. In photographic works like Fallen by Tenesh Webber and Wellicht 3 by Luuk de Haan, darkness serves as a ground for dynamic compositions of pure light; in Storm Series Horizontal 82 by Jaanika Peerna, darkness is the manifestation of energy, dynamism and motion; and in paintings like Untitled II by Anthony White and Chellehneshin No 8 by Yari Ostovany, darkness is the voice of texture, depth and emotion. Each work featured here may share a common language of hue and tint, but together they reveal an expansive range of formal qualities, and a multitude of possible meanings.