We are creatures of light. For millennia, controlled fire was our only retort to the darkness that nature inexorably imposes. Today, our world is built around a bewildering variety of objects that emit light – but we have only just begun to discover the range of what is possible. To this end, I have enlisted over a dozen artists to expand the array of possibilities into new territory. I invited them to indulge their fantasies and create works that emanate ambient light in a manner that drives their highly specialized practices forward. At the heart of this endeavor is the simple observation that light does not simply exist, it emanates from a source, and I crave a source that is worthy of manifesting the power of light.

The post-electrification history of light-as-sculpture summons a rich tradition of creative mavericks, innovators, and visionaries. First and foremost, I champion the foundational, late 19th century, relevance of Lewis Comfort Tiffany – a man renowned for artistic vision and excess. Several decades subsequent, in 1926, no less a visionary than László Moholy-Nagy conjured an early example of light emitting object as art, with his "Light Space Modulator".

Since then, many talented designers have engaged with light in an apparent effort to create sources as inspiring as light itself.  Some of these names may be lesser known, but their contributions are freshly relevant, among them; Serge Roche, Jean Royere, Paavo Tynell, Pietro Chiesa, Angelo Lelli, Isamu Noguchi, Roger Rougier, and of course, Ingo Maurer.

For the entirety of the winter season, two exhibition rooms at the gallery will be dedicated to lighted objects by twenty artists in LIT I & II. The goal is to put forward a fresh vision in the genre of lighted objects through the perspective of emerging talents in the field, as well as outsiders whose work is nonetheless sympathetic to the medium of light. Cumulatively, the two exhibitions feature forty lights by twenty significantly different artists, each taking a unique approach to the form.

- Damon Crain