Name: Evelyn Hankins
Occupation: Associate curator, Modern Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Residence: Woodley Park, Washington, D.C.
Why I love this piece: It’s a relatively simple idea: Whitish-bluish neon installed in coves at the points where the walls and the floor and ceiling meet. What’s important about this piece is the idea of using an immaterial substance, and transforming it into an immersive environment. Wheeler is taking light and creating an environment with it. At the same time, he’s changing your own awareness of the perceptual process.
A lot of people don’t understand that you’re supposed to walk in to the installation. They stay away — there’s something about that almost pure white space that’s kind of off-putting. It has this kind of religious aura to it, the way the light emits from the coves. If you walk in and spend some time in there, at first it’s just blue light. But over time, a while light begins to appear along the edges, and the subtleties of the piece become clear. I love the way this neon light creates an effect that reminds you of your own experiences. For me, if I stand there for a long time, it starts to feel like an arctic environment. (I lived in Burlington, Vt., for about three-and-a-half years.) It feels like a quiet, meditative place; very cold.
Wheeler makes you conscious of the perceptual process. You become aware of how your own optical and perceptual processes are reacting to and transforming the piece. It could be seen as a metaphor for the transformative power of art, but’s also about the pure beauty of a very simple idea.
If you go
“The Panza Collection”
Where: Through Jan. 11, 2009
When: Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Seventh Street and Independence Avenue SW
Info: Free; 202-633-4674; www.hmsg.si.edu
