William Lamson:
A Certain Slant of Light

June 27 – September 14, 2013

This exhibition will include recent videos, photographs, and site-specific installations. At the core of Lamson's projects is an ongoing quest to reconcile two opposing views— the artist seemingly in calm control of his environment and, alternately, struggling mightily against the forces of nature and time. In 2010 Lamson’s playful and strenuous interactions with his environment took him to the Mojave Desert to produce A Line Describing the Sun. Traversing the landscape in a rolling contraption equipped with a mirror and a Fresnel lens, the artist burned a 366-foot arced line into the dried desert mud. Lamson's investigations call to mind the efforts of earthwork artists in the late 1960s and early '70s, but with a decidedly anti-heroic and absurdist twist. For this exhibition, Lamson will create an expansive wall drawing using multi-colored candles laid horizontally in a single line across a 60-foot shelf. He will ignite the candles at opposite ends and after the candles burnout, the residual smoke and wax will bifurcate the wall with black smoke above and colorful drips of melted wax below. This action is typical of Lamson’s ability to wrest poetic ramifications from a simple gesture played out over time.

The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color brochure with an interview with the artist and Adam Frelin.

The exhibition and related publications are made possible with major support from the UAlbany Office of the President, Office of the Provost, The University at Albany Foundation, University Auxiliary Services, and the Ellsworth Kelly Foundation.


William Lamson
Last Light, 2012
Film foil, wire and steel, 4 x 190 feet
From the exhibition Light and Landscape, Storm King Art Center, 2012