Shadow Lines: Experiments with Light, Line and Liminality

In 1919 the artist Vasily Kandinsky in his essay On Line wrote “Line experiences many fates. Each creates a particular, specific world, from schematic limitation to unlimited expressivity. These worlds liberate line more and more from the instrument, leading to complete freedom of expression.”
Even a century after Kandinsky penned these thoughts, artists continue to be fascinated by the possibilities of line and the worlds they conjure up. What are these many fates that a line can experience, what worlds can it create? More pertinently, why do artists continue to be in its thrall?
“Shadow Lines” brings together a group of artists, spanning several generations, who view the world through the prism of light, line and liminality. The conceptual underpinnings of their work may vary, but what unites them is their emphasis on tactility and texture, line and light, mood and movement, and the sensations conveyed by colour. Eschewing a mimetic representation of an outer reality they strive instead to distil its essence, play with perception or revel in the poetics of space. In doing so, they reveal new avenues to experience and interrogate the world.

Meera Menezes

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