Selen’s Captive Lights in Second Life

Currently open at the HeArt and Soul Gallery operated by Tom Willis and Lizzy Swordthain through the rest of January 2025 and into February, is Captive Lights, an exhibition by Selen Minotaur mixing (predominantly) 2D pieces with 3D sculptures. It is presented as being inspired by the works of James Turrell, and stands as both a unique homage to his work as well as reflecting Selen’s own sensibilities in the use of colour, geometry, and light to offer visual journeys and narratives.

The exhibition is the first at HeArt and Soul following the gallery’s update to utilise PBR materials. I’m not sure if Blinn-Phong (“legacy”) materials are provided as fallback. As such, I would recommend the use of a PBR-capable viewer when visiting (and note that some of the art elements within the exhibition are also PBR), together with the use of the Shared Environment.

Born in 1946, James Turrell is often referred to as “the master of light” for his work in combining natural light with artificial colour to create dynamic environments in which the sense of light and perception of colour shifts both naturally and as the visitor moves through them. In this, he is regarded as one of the principal torch-bearers of the Light and Space art movement, an initially loose affiliation of artists working with light, volume and scale (and which touches upon genres such as minimalism, optical art and geometric abstraction), which started in the 1960s and perhaps became more formalised in the 1970s.

Turrell’s own approach to his art is born of a mix of influences: his parents were both Quakers, with his mother defining their faith in terms of a simple decree: that each of us can experience an inner light of understanding of the the world (and by extension, the cosmos) around us. His father was an aeronautical engineer and pilot, from whom Turrell gained a love of flying (qualifying as a pilot himself at the age of 16) and a fascination with celestial phenomena. These influences led him to a degree in perceptual psychology prior to switching to art, and working on his earliest installations utilising light and volume.

Today, Turrell is perhaps most famous for his Skyspace installations, which have been established in more than 75 locations world-wide, and most particularly for his Roden Crater installation. The latter is a 45-year project Turrell, with the support of various art institutions and universities, has been developing within the 4.8 km wide cinder cone of an extinct volcano near flagstaff, Arizona, and regarded as the pinnacle of his research into  human visual and psychological perception.

With Captive Lights, Selen presents a series of 2D pieces which reflect many of the core elements found within Turrell’s art and the wider Light and Space movement. There are pieces mindful of his Sky Space installations and the Alpha Tunnel at Roden Crater (Palace Corridor, for example). Similarly, Magic Cubes might be taken as a modern take on Turrell’s 1966 work, Afrum-Proto, whilst pieces such as The Wall Eye might bring to mind elements found within Turrell’s Passages of Light retrospective.

At the same time, the pieces in the collection are very much born of Selen’s own signature embodiment of abstraction, light, colour, and minimalism, and her ability to tug at the threads of our imagination and comprehension and offer hints of potential narrative or greater perception.

The images in this exhibition are intended to be minimalist, with light as the main heroine, even if characters sometimes appear. The light is framed or staged to capture an energy or a specific moment. The chosen title, deliberately loaded with mystery and symbolism, invites the viewer to connect their perceptions to their imagination, to their emotions, to build their own stories or representations.

– Selen Minotaur on Captive Light

A thoroughly engaging exhibition to tickle the mind – and, for those unfamiliar with either Turrell’s work and / or the Light and Space art movement, an open invitation to explore both.

SLurl Details

• HeArt and Soul Gallery (Durdane, rated Moderate)