Anthony McCall: Solid Light

Anthony McCall’s ’solid light’ artworks blur the boundaries between cinema, sculpture and drawing. Beams of projected light slowly trace the outlines of shapes, creating sculpted, three-dimensional chambers cutting through a misty haze.

In this first room you can see detailed drawings from which McCall develops his ‘solid light’ installations. There are also photographs of his experiments with light and performance.

Landscape for Fire 1973, one of the artist’s early films, is screened in room 2. At this time, McCall was working in the UK. The film documents a short performance in which McCall lights small fires at dusk in a precise geometric grid.

Four immersive artworks fill the main room. McCall made his first ‘solid light’ work Line Describing a Cone in New York in 1973, using simple animation techniques. He first showed the work in the loft-spaces and art venues of the New York and London avant-garde film world. The projection cut through the dust and cigarette smoke that filled those spaces, enabling it to be seen in three dimensions. McCall returned to the series in 2003 following the invention of digital projectors, and the haze machine which produces a thin non-toxic mist, allowing viewers to see the light beams in modern smoke-free spaces.

The artist’s more recent works expand the ‘solid light’ format. Doubling Back 2003 ‘folds in upon itself’; the evolving beams of Face to Face 2013 are projected in two directions at once, while Split Second Mirror I 2018 uses the refraction of light to conjure uncanny forms for visitors to explore.

Anthony McCall (born in the UK in 1946) is a key figure in contemporary art practice. He describes his work as ‘existing in the space where cinema, sculpture and drawing overlap’. McCall’s ‘solid light’ works have influenced many subsequent artists working with film and installation.

Room 1

Split Second Mirror I
2018
Study for installation Graphite and photocopy on paper,
facsimile printed 2024

Courtesy of the artist, Sprüth Magers, and Sean Kelly,
New York/Los Angeles
X91046

Notebook 66
(1973.07.10–1973.08.21)
1973
Animation production study detailing
concept for Line Describing a Cone 1973
Ink, graphite, collage on paper

Courtesy of the artist
X89965

Doubling Back
2017
Footprints at approximately 100 second intervals
9 prints, UV-cured archival pigment on Dibond
printed 2024

Courtesy of the artist, Sprüth Magers, and Sean Kelly,
New York/Los Angeles
X89060

Four Projected Movements
1975
Facsimilies of wax pencil on paper drawings,
printed 2024

Courtesy of the artist, Sprüth Magers, and Sean Kelly,
New York/Los Angeles
X91047

‘Line Describing a Cone’ 1973,
installed at Artists Space, New York,
15 February, 1974
Photograph by Peter Moore
Photograph on vinyl

Courtesy Peter Moore Photography Archive, Charles Deering McCormick
Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Libraries

Landscape for Fire
1972
Photograph by Carolee Schneemann
Photograph, gelatin silver print mounted on
museum board and aluminium, printed 2024

Courtesy of the artist, Sprüth Magers, and Sean Kelly,
New York/Los Angeles
X89055

Room with Altered Window
1973
Photograph, gelatin silver print mounted on
museum board and aluminium, printed 2024

Courtesy of the artist, Sprüth Magers, and Sean Kelly,
New York/Los Angeles
X89058

Smoke Screen III
2017
Photograph, gelatin silver print mounted on
museum board and aluminium, printed 2024

Courtesy of the artist, Sprüth Magers, and Sean Kelly,
New York/Los Angeles
X89057

Room 2

1. Landscape for Fire
1972
Film, 16mm, projection, digitised
with audio
7 minutes

Courtesy of the artist, Sprüth Magers, and Sean Kelly,
New York/Los Angeles
X83056

2. Line Describing a Cone
1973
Film, 16mm, projection, digitised
30 minutes

Tate. Purchased 2005
T12031

Room 3

3. Doubling Back,
2003
Digital video projection
30-minute cycle

Courtesy of the artist, Sprüth Magers,
and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles
X89062

4. Face to Face IV
2013
Two digital video projections and
double-sided projection screens
24-minute cycle

Courtesy of the artist, Sprüth Magers,
and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles
X89063

5. Split-Second (Mirror) I
2018
Mirror, digital video projection
16-minute cycle

Courtesy of the artist, Sprüth Magers,
and Sean Kelly, New York/Los Angeles
X89064

Need a bigger font size of the exhibition guide? Download the large print guide [139KB]