Helen Pashgian: Spheres & Lenses

The Vermeer of California’s Light and Space movement: the first comprehensive monograph on Helen Pashgian’s infinitely subtle and mutable sculpture Over the course of her career, Pasadena-based artist Helen Pashgian (born 1934) has produced a significant oeuvre of sculptures comprised of vibrantly colored columns, discs and spheres, which often feature an isolated element appearing suspended, embedded or encased within them. Using an innovative application of industrial epoxies, plastics and resins, Pashgian’s works are characterized by their translucent surfaces that appear to filter and somehow contain illumination. “One must move around to observe changes,” she testifies: “coming and going, appearing and receding, visible and invisible―a phenomenon of constant movement.” This book documents Pashgian’s vast body of work, dating from the 1960s to now, with historic and new photographs of the artist’s spheres and discs. An essay by John Yau and a chronology built on new research is also included.