Tip 2011

This is Tapio Anttila's Tip, a light fixture, hanging here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. It's all about light, how it's held and how it's given. There is a sense of layering here, not unlike paint. Where do we begin? This disc, floating, suspended, is a process. The layers aren’t hidden; they’re celebrated, exposed even. The texture, the way the light catches on the surface, it feels almost tactile, like you could run your hand over it. The light here isn't just illumination. It has substance, takes up space. It’s a meditation on form and function, on how something as simple as light can be art. This piece shares an affinity with James Turrell's light installations, where light itself becomes the medium. Like Turrell, Anttila encourages us to see light not just as something that reveals, but as something that exists in and of itself, a thing to be experienced.