Doug Wheeler

Product Description Over five decades, Doug Wheeler has pioneered the art of light and space. His work powerfully explores the way we perceive “empty” space―the way light can affect our perception and make emptiness feel full and dense. From his early experiences flying across the desert with his father, a doctor in Globe, Arizona, Wheeler developed a passion for the intensity and stillness of vast expanses, seeing in them a whole new set of possibilities for visual art.Although Wheeler began his career as a painter, his wall-mounted artworks soon began incorporating light as a medium and quickly gave way to an unprecedented art-historical breakthrough: his construction of an absolute light environment, crafted in his studio in 1967. Since that unparalleled moment, Wheeler’s work has been exhibited widely all over the world; in the past decade, with numerous major gallery and museum installations, his reputation as the definitive light and space artist has been solidified.This volume, featuring new scholarship by renowned art historian Germano Celant, traces the entire course of Wheeler’s career to date, from his first mature paintings to his immersive installations. Writing on Wheeler’s intense and direct engagement with the absoluteness in the optical fields he creates, Celant provides a detailed account for Wheeler’s development as one of the most original and influential artists of his generation. Wheeler’s work not only changes how we encounter reality after we see it, but also how we envision what is possible more broadly in visual art. From the Back Cover Known for his immersive environmental spaces and his experiments with light, Doug Wheeler helped pioneer both the material and conceptual approach behind what is often referred to as the Light and Space movement. He has long been recognized by his peers as one of the movement’s most innovative figures, and the continued relevance and popularity of his work today is a testament to the lasting nature of his contribution. This monograph, the first book dedicated to Wheeler, includes extensive archival imagery from early on in the artist’s career, along with rich and immersive plates from his 2012, 2014, and 2016 shows at David Zwirner, along with his numerous projects both in the United States and Europe. The monograph is structured around a booklength essay by the renowned Italian art historian, Germano Celant, which provides background on the context in which Wheeler matured as an artist, and presents the first definitive history of his life and practice―from his early years to his most recent work. Also included are numerous excerpts from interviews conducted with many of Wheeler’s peers―Vija Celmins, Robert Irwin, and Larry Bell, among others―which situate him alongside the artists of his time, and provide insight into the important ways he influenced the development of West Coast art. Woven throughout the book, these quotations and excerpts begin to reveal a conversation previously unavailable in which Wheeler emerges as one of the most original artists of his generation. Designed by Radius Books, in close collaboration with both Wheeler and Celant, this publication not only fills a wide gap in the history of Light and Space, but is a vital contribution to the development of environmental art more generally. The unique subject matter, ambitious critical approach, and vibrant imagery make this monograph both a beautiful object for lovers of Wheeler’s work, and a crucial historical document on an artist whose significance is only just coming to light. About the Author Doug Wheeler s prolific and groundbreaking body of work encompasses drawing, painting, and installations that are characterized by a singular experimentation with the perception and experience of light, space, and sound. Raised in the high desert of Arizona, Wheeler began his career as a painter in the early 1960s while studying at the Chouinard Art Institute (now the California