Revealing Light & Darkness: a panel discussion

Light & Darkness features luminal, op and kinetic works of the ‘60s by major artists such as Jean Tinguely and Bridget Riley; the political and conceptual art of the ‘70s by Ed Kienholtz, Richard Hamilton and On Kawara; and Australasian post-modernists of the ‘80s, including Tim Johnson, Jenny Watson and Ralph Hotere. The exhibition and accompanying book celebrate the University’s extensive collection of international contemporary art in its new home at the Chau Chak Wing Museum and the continuing significance and vitality of John Power’s legacy. This is the first in a series of six panels to be held each month through the exhibition.

This panel will discuss key light works.

Panelists include: the early light artist, Tim Johnson; Power Professor Mark Ledbury; Senior Curator Dr Ann Stephen and Assistant Curator Katrina Liberiou.

Tim Johnson studied at the University of New South Wales and The University of Sydney (1966–70) and has exhibited regularly since 1970. His early work rapidly negotiated a range of influences, such as hard-edge or colour-field abstraction, minimal and conceptual art and performance. Johnson’s more recent work is known for its eclectic or hybrid formulations, both in post-painting experiments and cultural combinations such as Aboriginal and Eastern Asian cultures.

Ann Stephen is Senior Curator, Art at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney. She has curated my exhibitions, including those accompanying her recent publications Light & Darkness (Power Publications) and Bauhaus Diaspora and Beyond: Transforming Education though Art, Design and Architecture, with Philip Goad, Andrew McNamara, Hariet Edquist, and Isabel Wünsche (Melbourne University Press).

Mark Ledbury is Power Professor of Art and Visual Culture and Director of the Power Institute (at the Uni of Sydney) . He teaches and researches art from baroque to the twentieth century. At Power he directs a wide variety of programmes on art including conferences, lectures workshops and talks and classes which explore how art works in global cultures and why art matters. 

Katrina Liberiou is Assistant Curator, Art at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney, where she works across programming, acquisitions, research and exhibitions. Recent exhibitions include Sarah Goffman: Applied Arts and Light & Darkness: Late Modernism and the Power Collection (with Ann Stephen).

Featured image: Peter Sedgley, Chromosphere, 1967, polyvinyl acetate emulsion paint on linen canvas, dichroic lamps with timer and dimming units, Power Collection PW1967.22.a-b © Peter Sedgley