Erika Blumenfeld at HWY 90 Gallery

Santa Fe-based artist Erika Blumenfeld returns to Marfa this fall with a solo show at HWY 90 Gallery. Blumenfeld will be exhibiting recent works from her Light Recording series, in which she documents light phenomena over time onto photosensitive materials. A reception for Blumenfeld and other HWY 90 Gallery artists will kick off the exhibit on Thursday, October 5.

Blumenfeld’s exhibition, titled Light & Time, will include a large-scale photographic installation of a full moon lunar eclipse and several pieces from her Fractions of Light & Time series, which were recorded here in Marfa this past spring. Also included is a video installation, titled Moving Light: Spring 2005, which documents the increasing duration of sunlight as the sun moves from the equinox to the solstice during northern spring.

Marfa residents may remember Blumenfeld’s exhibition Lunation 1011, which was on view in January 2005 at Ballroom. Blumenfeld was Ballroom’s inaugural artist-in-residence in the fall of 2004, during which time the artist had the rare opportunity of creating a video work at the McDonald Observatory by recorded moonlight through an altered telescope over a period of a lunar month.

Blumenfeld’s work is inspired by her interest in the nature of light. “I attempt to document the various manifestations of light we experience every day: dawn, twilight, midnight, midday, the solstices and equinoxes, the full moon phases. My intention is to catalogue the actions and intensities of light over time, and visually describe astronomical cycles that occur throughout our year.” Instead of a traditional camera and lens, Blumenfeld builds special light-recording equipment that allows light to directly travel across the surface of the photographic film and paper or digital media. The resulting images are recordings of the subtle gradient shifts that light makes over time – visual records of light’s trace.

Blumenfeld’s work has been included in exhibits at numerous galleries and museums, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York; the Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Fe; DiverseWorks Art Space in Houston; Galerie der Stadt Mainz-Brurm, Mainz, Germany; and Kunstmernes Hus, Oslo, Norway.

Also on view will be works by Jenny Bloomfield and Mel Lyons, both based in the San Francisco area, collages by Lance Letscher of Austin, and paintings on Mylar by Brooklyn artist Tad Wiley.

Joan Winter, of Dallas, will show her “Marfa Series” etchings and Alpine printmaker Alan Vannoy will display Xerox transfer prints. Also on display will be drawings by Marfa artist Gretchen Lee Coles from her “Field Notes” series. Ft. Worth artist Keith Lymon, whose studio is currently located in Marfa, will show new work, as will New York-based artist Matthew Riva and Houston artist John Adelman.

The reception on October 5 will be from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibit will be on display at the gallery through November 25. HWY 90 Gallery is located in Marfa across the street from Donald Judd’s private residence and studios (commonly called the Block).