Claremont Museum of Art presents EPHEMERAL: EXPLORATIONS IN LIGHT September 16 – November 18, 2007

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Claremont, CA (August 9, 2007)—For the Claremont Museum of Art’s upcoming exhibit, Ephemeral: Explorations in Light (September 16 – November 18, 2007), Curator Pilar Tompkins has created a multimedia show featuring dynamic installations and sculptures by Iñaki Bonillas (Mexico City), Elaine Buckholtz (San Francisco), Thomas Glassford (Mexico City), Won Ju Lim (Los Angeles), and C.E.B Reas (Los Angeles).

“These artists utilize the transient and elusive medium of light as one aspect of communication,” says Tompkins. “The works in Ephemeral explore the power of controlled light sources as a way to alter the viewers’ visual encounters. Some reference memory, while others are strictly sensory experiences.”

Museum visitors enter the exhibition through Iñaki Bonillas’ Light Corridor, a long, narrow hallway illuminated by divided sections of warm-toned and cool-toned florescent tubes. The light frequency shifts as one walks through the sculpture, subtly affecting perceived temperature and mood.

Won Ju Lim, “Elysian Field” (2001)
Won Ju Lim, “Elysian Field” (2001)

In Elysian Field, Won Ju Lim recalls an encounter in a treasured Los Angeles recreational area. Utilizing a combination of three-dimensional and projected Lucite elements, light sources create depth and scale resulting in the overall effect of a postmodern cityscape.

C.E.B. Reas merges technology with the fundamentals of art, by creating software that generates fluid and delicate compositions that seemingly float above the floor like lit lily pads. Referencing Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings, Reas’ piece TI, utilizes technology as silent draftsperson, rendering infinite variations of organic forms.

C.E.B. Reas, “T.I.” (2004).
C.E.B. Reas, “T.I.” (2004).

Museum Executive Director William Moreno says, “Whether artificially projected or deconstructed into a narrow spectrum essence, this type of work contains great emotional power. One can reference the Chapel of Notre Dame designed by Le Corbusier at Ronchamps, Haute Sane, France, as light cascades through slot windows.”

According to Le Corbusier, “Light and illumination are inseparable components of form, space and light…Light renders texture, illuminates surface and provides sparkle and life.”

Iñaki Bonillas, a native of Mexico City where he lives and works today, incorporates photography, installation, drawing and found archives in his practice. His work has been included in the Prague Biennale (2005), the Venice Biennale (2003) and First Tirana Biennial, Albania (2001). Additional exhibitions include Naufragio con espectador, OMR, Mexico City (2007); Esquiador en el fondo del pozo, La Colección Jumex, Mexico City (2006-2007); Intervención al Pabellón, Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, Barcelona, Spain (2005); Photography: Robert Adams, Iñaki Bonillas, Louise Lawler, Galerie Meert Rihoux, Brussels (2006); Eco: Arte Contemporáneo Mexicano, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain (2005); Axis Mexico: Common Objects and Cosmopolitan Actions, San Diego Museum of Art, CA, and Pictures of You, The Americas Society, New York (2002).

Elaine Buckholtz received a Masters of Fine Arts in New Genres from Stanford University in 2006, and a Masters of Fine Arts in Media Arts from the California College of the Arts in 2004. In addition to developing her practice as an artist working primarily in video installations and light based projections, Buckholtz is an accomplished lighting designer and technical stage director living and working in San Francisco. She presented moving light, video and sound works in a solo exhibition at the Luggage Store in San Francisco (2003), and has exhibited at Perogi Gallery in Leipzig, Germany (2007) and New Langton Arts in San Francisco (2004). Buckholtz completed a year-long residency at Headlands Center For The Arts (2000) and her videos have been screened at California College of the Arts, San Francisco (2005) and the Wexner Center for the Arts, in Columbus, Ohio (1999).

Thomas Glassford was born in Laredo, TX and lives and works in Mexico City. Select solo museum exhibitions include Cadáver Exquisito, Museo Universitario de Ciencias y Artes, MUCA, UNAM, Mexico City (2006); Museo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City; Event Horizon, Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City (2003); Autogol: Oaxaca, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca, Mexico (1996); and Autogol Monterrey, Museo de Monterrey, Mexico (1995). He has participated in InSITE’05 and InSITE’97 in San Diego-Tijuana; Erotic, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo and Brasilia, Brazil; Eco. Arte Mexicano Contemporáneo, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain (2005); Made in Mexico, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts and the UCLA Hammer Museum (2004); Operativo, Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City; Phoenix Triennial, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona; La Persistencia de la Imagen, Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, Mexico City and the Sonje Art Center Museum, Seoul (2001). Additionally he has shown at the 5th and 6th Biennials of Havana, Cuba, the Museé de Beaux Arts de Montreal, Canada, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museo Alejandro Otero, Caracas, Venezuela, the Contemporary Arts Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas.

Won Ju Lim was born in Seoul, Korea and lives and works in Los Angeles. Recent exhibitions include Won Ju Lim: In Many Things to Come, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, HI, Idylle, DA2 Domus Artium, Center of Contemporary Art, Salamanca, Spain, Architecture, Art and Landscape Biennial of the Canaries, Fuerteventura, Spain, Abstraction Now: Strictly Geometrical, Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen, Germany (2006); Lichtkunst aus Kunstlicht, ZKM Museum fur Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe, Germany, Vanishing Point, Wexner Center for the Arts, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, Barrocos Y Neobarrocos, DA2 Domus Artium, Center of Contemporary Art, Salamanca, Spain, and 20Scene05, The Korean American Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2005). Public collections include: The UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA, El Centro de Arte Caja de Burgos, Spain, T-B A21 -Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria and La Colección Jumex, Mexico City.

C.E.B. Reas lives and works in Los Angeles. 2006 exhibitions include: C.E.B. Reas + Suzung Kim, Bitforms Gallery, Seoul, Korea; Design Life Now: National Design Triennial, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, NY; Further Processing, Kunstverein MEDIENTURM, Graz, Austria; Manifesto: GenArt, DesignBlok, Prague, Czech Republic; La Noche en Blanc, Madrid, Spain; Artefact, STUK, Leuven, Belgium. Additionally, his work has been at such venues as the Fabric Museum and Workshop, Philadelphia, the Institute for Contemporary Art, London, and the Australian Center for the Moving Image, Melbourne. He is an associate professor in the department of Design | Media Arts at UCLA and a frequent lecturer on new media in art. He received a Master of Science in Media Arts and Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2001.

About the Claremont Museum of Art: The Claremont Museum of Art is a regional museum of international significance, exhibiting art connected to Claremont as well as art from around the world. In addition to a diverse slate of exhibits, the museum features an eclectic store offering contemporary and unexpected gifts from around the world. A comprehensive slate of educational programming and events are offered for all ages. Claremont Museum of Art is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.