Untitled #1 2010

Helen Pashgian created this “Untitled #1” out of cast resin at an unknown date. It’s like she’s playing with how we see, bending light and color in ways that feel both simple and kind of mind-bending. The sculpture has this unreal, smooth texture – that blue is just glowing. It’s not paint, but you still get this sense of depth because the light moves through it. I’m interested in how Pashgian coaxes so much emotion out of pure form and color. The cool blue shades evoke calmness, but there’s also something quietly intense about it. Like other California Light and Space artists such as Larry Bell, Pashgian is doing something really interesting in the way she manipulates industrial material to create perceptual phenomena. Thinking about it makes me want to push the boundaries of what paint can do, too!