Arie Galles | Early Reflected-Light Works

Dissatisfied with the inherent incompatibility of painted canvas and the surrounding reflected colors I worked with my friend, Chick Sgroi, in his wood shop on Wooster Street, to created the first trapezoidal rods on which my Reflected-Light Paintings are based. I had only enough money for one set of rods. I solved the problem by designing the pieces on graph paper, cutting corresponding lengths of colored fluorescent tape, and adhering them to the rods. After each piece was photographed, a new configuration of strips was attached. The resulting photographs are the only permanent record of these evanescent “Strip-Pieces.” I found something creatively unique in this art, and have expanded on this discovery ever since. This is also when I was hired to a full-time position at Fairleigh Dickinson, and left New York for Madison, NJ. It was a difficult decision, but the right one.

I had a job, a great work space and time to experiment. The “Rainbow Division” Reflected-Light paintings were created in my Madison studio. Finally I gathered my courage and asked Ivan Karp if I could bring the works in and mount them on the walls of his gallery, O.K. Harris, between exhibitions. Keith Long and I worked for hours to put the works up. I was tired and scared. Ivan walked in, looked at my art, and said, “Break Through Work.” I was too frightened to react positively at his pronouncement. About two months later, on June 21, 1977, I received a telegram from Ivan, “CALL OK HARRIS GALLERY NOW.” I called back. John Kacere didn’t have enough works for his scheduled exhibition, and I was offered a solo show. I accepted.

1 Strip-Piece #1 “Middle Yellow” Strip-Piece #1 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

2 Strip-Piece #3 “Five Slant” Strip-Piece #3 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

3 Strip-Piece #7 “Rialto” Strip-Piece #7 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

4 Strip-Piece #10 “Rainbow Division II” Strip-Piece #10 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

Strip-Piece #1 “Middle Yellow”

Strip-Piece #3 “Five Slant”

Strip-Piece #7 “Rialto”

Strip-Piece #10 “Rainbow Division II”

5 Strip-Piece #11 “L’opera Completa” Strip-Piece #11 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

6 Strip-Piece #12 “The Black Triangle” Strip-Piece #12 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

7 Strip-Piece #14 “Welcome Richard I” Strip-Piece #14 (For Richard Artschwager) 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

8 Strip-Piece #15 “Welcome Richard II” Strip-Piece #15 (For Richard Artschwager) 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

Strip-Piece #11 “L’opera Completa”

Strip-Piece #12 “The Black Triangle”

Strip-Piece #14 “Welcome Richard I”

Strip-Piece #15 “Welcome Richard II”

9 Strip-Piece #18 * “Bemben II” Strip-Piece #18 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

10 Strip-Piece #20 * “Fresh Scent Cat Chow” Strip-Piece #20 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

11 Strip-Piece #23 * “Swingline” Strip-Piece #23 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

12 Strip-Piece #24 * “Tired” Strip-Piece #24 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

Strip-Piece #18 * “Bemben II”

#20 * “Fresh Scent Cat Chow”

Strip-Piece #23 * “Swingline”

Strip-Piece #24 * “Tired”

13 Strip-Piece #25 “Cathy II” Strip-Piece #25 (For Cathy Artschwager) 22” x 17” 1972 Color Pencils on Graph Paper

14 Strip-Piece #1 W “Middle Yellow” Strip-Piece #1 W 72” x 42” 1972 Fluorescent Tape on Wood Strips

15 Strip-Piece #3 W “Five Slant” Strip-Piece #3 W 72” x 42” 1972 Fluorescent Tape on Wood Strips

16 Strip-Piece #8 W “To Betty” Strip-Piece #8 W (For Betty Kord) 72” x 42” 1972 Fluorescent Tape on Wood Strips

Strip-Piece #25 “Cathy II”

Strip-Piece #1 W “Middle Yellow”

Strip-Piece #3 W “Five Slant”

Strip-Piece #8 W “To Betty”

17 Strip-Piece #10 W “Rainbow Division II” Strip-Piece #10 W 72” x 42” 1972 Fluorescent Tape on Wood Strips

18 Strip-Piece #12 W “The Black Triangle” Strip-Piece #12 W 72” x 42” 1972 Fluorescent Tape on Wood Strips

19 Strip-Piece #23 W “Swingline” Strip-Piece #23 W 72” x 42” 1972 Fluorescent Tape on Wood Strips

#10 W “Rainbow Division II”

#12 W “The Black Triangle”

Strip-Piece #23 W “Swingline”

“Rainbow Division V” 24” x 19” 7/3/1972 Pastel on Watercolor Paper

“Rainbow Division VI” 24” x 19” 7/3/1972 Pastel on Watercolor Paper

“Rainbow Division # 2” 24” x 19” 7/3/1973 Pastel on Watercolor Paper

“Rainbow Division # 6” 24” x 19” 7/3/1973 Pastel on Watercolor Paper

“Rainbow Division V”

“Rainbow Division VI”

“Rainbow Division # 2”

“Rainbow Division # 6”

“Rainbow Division III” 30” x 22” 9/14/1975 Graphite on Rieves

“Rainbow Division lV” 30” x 22” 9/14/1975 Graphite & Color Pencil on Rieves

“Rainbow Division” 29” x 23” 9/14/1975 Graphite on Strathmore

“Rainbow Division” (Tecza) 24” x 19” 5/20/1975 Pastel on Watercolor Paper

“Rainbow Division III”

“Rainbow Division lV”

“Rainbow Division”

“Rainbow Division” (Tecza)

“Rainbow Division III E” 24” x 19” 5/18/1975 Pastel on Watercolor Paper

“Rainbow Division I D” 24” x 19” 5/18/1975 Pastel on Watercolor Paper

“Rainbow Division #4” 29” x 23” 8/1976 Oil Markers on Strathmore

“Rainbow Division I ” 29” x 23” 3/17/1997 Oil Markers on Strathmore

“Rainbow Division III E”

“Rainbow Division I D”

“Rainbow Division #4”

“Rainbow Division I”

Arie Galles with 1st Reflected Light Paintings – 60 Main St, Madison, NJ. Triangle 72” x 48” 1977 Fluorescent Paint on Wooden Strips

Arie Galles with 1st Reflected Light Paintings – 60 Main St, Madison, NJ. Triangles being painted 72” x 48” 1977 Fluorescent Paint on Wooden Strips

Arie Galles with 1st R-L Paintings

On becoming the Chair of the Visual & Performing Arts Department at FDU in 1972, I moved to Madison, NJ. The early Reflected-Light Paintings in my first exhibition at O.K. Harris were created in Madison at 60 ½ Main Street. However, a problem arose. Under the intense heat from the lights, the wooden strips, started to warp on the gallery wall. Ivan sold several pieces with the proviso that should the works warp, I would replace them with identical duplicates painted on aluminum extrusions. These sales made it affordable to have dies made, and the aluminum rods became a reality. Working with aluminum forced me to develop new technical processes of jig-making, priming, masking and spray painting the works. The sold pieces did eventually warp, and over the next years I replaced them with original replicas on the new aluminum extrusions.

“Borealis II” 30” x 22” 4/10/1977 Graphite on Strathmore

“Borealis I” 30” x 22” 4/12/1977 Graphite on Strathmore

“Borealis II” 30” x 22” 4/12/1977 Graphite on Strathmore

“Borealis I” 30” x 22” 5/8/1977 Graphite on Strathmore

“Borealis II”

“Borealis I”

“Borealis II”

“Borealis I”

“Borealis II” 30” x 22” 5/8/1977 Graphite on Strathmore

“Borealis II”

A small range of large Reflected-Light Paintings in which I explored the limits of possible iconography in this new medium. In order to achieve recognizable details within the prescribed limits of the technique these representational works had to be on a large scale. “Pond,” 64” X 104”, was my homage to Monet. I wasn’t dealing with the impressions of reflected light interpreted by paint on canvas, I was creating the image with light itself on a blank white surface. I actually never get to see the way the work will appear in its final state, the process of creating these pieces is based on educated suppositions. I remember sitting in pre dawn darkness in my studio, just after mounting this work on its canvas backing, and observing how the light of the new day gradually awakened the colors. At full daylight the painting literally came alive, a lily pond glowing with saturated color. Tired, but delighted beyond measure, I returned to the house and to sleep.

Arie Galles with “Infinity Rainbow” – 2 Green Village Rd, Madison, NJ 40” x 77” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Infinity Rainbow” 40” x 77” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Infinity Rainbow” (Side View) 40” x 77” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“3 Infinity” (Side View) 72” x 116” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

Arie Galles with “Infinity Rainbow”

“Infinity Rainbow”

“Infinity Rainbow” (Side View)

“3 Infinity” (Side View)

“3 Infinity” (Front View) 72” x 116” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Lama” (Side View) 72” x 48” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Iris” 40” x 77” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“G.S.A.Z.” 30” x 50” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“3 Infinity” (Front View)

“Lama” (Side View)

“Iris”

“G.S.A.Z.”

“Jeremy I” (Side View) 72” x 48” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“DNA” 40” x 77” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Wid” 40” x 32” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Rainbow River” (Side View) 40” x 32” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Jeremy I” (Side View)

“Jeremy I”

“Stars & Stripes”

“Fala”

“Fala” 40” x 32” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Pas” 40” x 32” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Stars & Stripes” (Side View) 60” x 98” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Jeremy I” (Front View) 72” x 48” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Pas”

“Wid”

“Rainbow River" (Side View)

“DNA”

“Double Rainbow” 72” x 48” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Daj” 72” x 48” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Stars & Stripes” (Side View) 63” x 79” 1980 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Stars & Stripes” 30” x 40” 1980 Fluorescent Paint on Folded Strathmore

“Double Rainbow”

“Daj”

“Stars & Stripes” (Side View)

“Stars & Stripes”

In 1978 I moved into Wojciech Fangor’s old studio at 2 Green Village Road in Madison, NJ. The building was built in the late 1800’s and once housed a theatre. My bedroom was one stage wing, the kitchen another, and the stage itself was my living room. The theatre was a 72 foot diameter circular room. It became my work studio and the “Morris Gallery” exhibition place. My introductory exhibition at the Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in Chicago opened on Friday, April 13, 1979. It turned out to be the luckiest of my life. At that opening I met Sara. After a long-distance romance, mostly courtesy of “Ma Bell,” we were married in January 1980. Overnight, from being a “Gay Bachelor” I became a husband and father to two children. The “Midrash” (Exegesis) series incorporated the joy of my new found love and family with my old fascination with images encountered while working as an electron micrographer at the University of Chicago’s Billings Hospital in 1968. The “tiling” aspect of my iconography was based on electron microscope photos my friend, Lee Tanner, a distinguished metallurgist working at Allied Chemicals at that time, showed me. In this formalistic work shapes had no limits, and triangles, rhomboids, free forms and ellipses became hovering luminescent icons. Any minor change in these simple tilings made possible a vast gamut of color permutations. I began to understand the medium and started mastering the creative and technical processes involved with reflected light. The “Midrash” series constituted a major part of my next two solo shows, one at O.K. Harris in May 1979 and the other at Zolla/Lieberman in October. It was an honor to exhibit in Chicago with my mother, my fiancée, family and friends in attendance.

“Midrash Sara” 40” x 77” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Midrash Arlie” 40” x 77” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Midrash Malka” 40” x 77” 1979 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Midrash I” 40” x 77” 1980 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Midrash Sara”

“Midrash Arlie”

“Midrash Malka”

“Midrash I”

“Midrash IV” 40” x 77” 1980 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Midrash Jeremy II” 46” x 38” 1980 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Midrash Meshulash” 46” x 38” 1980 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Midrash Shemesh” 60” x 102” 1980 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Midrash IV”

“Midrash Jeremy II”

“Midrash Meshulash”

“Midrash Shemesh”

The process images illustrate my early methods of crafting the Reflected-Light Paintings. I was using car body primer and fluorescent lacquer paints straight out of aerosol cans, masking out different areas as needed.

#1 South Wall - Installation, OK Harris Gallery, NYC Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

#2 Southeast Wall - Installation, OK Harris Gallery, NYC Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

#3 East Wall - Installation, OK Harris Gallery, NYC Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

#4 South Wall - Installation, OK Harris Gallery, NYC Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

#1 South Wall - Installation

#2 Southeast Wall

#3 East Wall - Installation

#4 South Wall - Installation

“Half Tumble,” “Daj,” “3 Infinity” – Inst. Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Half Tumble,” “Daj,” “3 Infinity”

#1 Drilling holes into jigs Arie drilling holes for dowels in the painting jigs May 1979

#2 Sanding dowel supports Arie sanding edges of dowel supports for jigs May 1979

#3 Arie with jig for “3 Infinity” Studio at 2 Green Village Rd, Madison, NJ

#4 Filling the extrusions Filling off the rough-cut edges of aluminum extrusions May 1979

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

#5 Degreasing the extrusions Degreasing the extrusions with XIM solvent

#6 Mounting the extrusions Mounting the extrusions into the painting jig

#7 Extrusions in jig Extrusions mounted in painting jig for “3 Infinity”

#8 Priming the extrusions in jig Priming the extrusions for a triangular piece

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

#9 Masking extrusions in jig Masking the fronts of extrusions for a triangular piece

#10 Marking primed extrusions Marking the backs of extrusions with color code markers

#11 Masking marked extrusions Masking the backs of extrusions to spray with a color

#12 Masked marked extrusions Masked the extrusions in jig ready to spray with a color

Step 9

Step 10

Step 11

Step 12

#13 Spray painting the extrusions Masked extrusions in jig sprayed with a color

#14 Setting up an oval piece Setting cut extrusions for an oval piece in jig

#15 Oval piece in jig Extrusions for an oval piece in painting jig

#16 Arie with Cygan Studio at 2 Green Village Rd, Madison, NJ

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Step 15

Arie with Cygan in Madison, NJ

In 1981 we moved from the former theatre into an 18th century house with a dilapidated barn which we converted into my studio. I had an exhibition scheduled at O.K. Harris for 1982 and no place to paint. Sara and I worked manically to transform the barn into a studio. That summer, the two of us spent days with pick ax, shovel and wheelbarrow, digging out the dirt floor so that a proper foundation and floor could be put in. When we began the interior work in the former hay loft, Sara at 5’ 3” was the perfect height to support panels of sheetrock on her back while I nailed them in place. For our first anniversary, romantic that I am, I bought her a hammer holder. Sara’s sense of humor is great, which explains why we’re still together. In addition to jobs and raising children, the construction took all our time and energy. As soon as the studio was finished I began the “Meta” series. Another technical difficulty arose since I began layering the extrusions. Every detail stole time and added pressure to the already pressured situation. Aesthetically I focused on rather simple geometric shapes and a palette of three primary and three complementary colors and their juxtaposition. The “Meta” series, meaning “Goal” in Polish, was the most minimalist of my works to date. The goal was the least baroque representation of color interaction. Being a baroque person to start with, this series was extremely limiting. As soon as possible I switched gears and dove into the ornate iconography of the “Aras” series.

“META VI” 42” X 46 ½” 1982 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“META VII” 40” x 72” 1982 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“META XI” 48” x 38” 1982 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“META XIV” 80” x 32 ½” 1982 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“META VI”

“META VII”

“META XI”

“META XIV”

“META XVII” 84” x 6 ½” 1982 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“META XIX” 44” x 48 ½” 1982 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“META XX” 40” x 64 ½” 1982 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“META XXI” 34” x 90 ½” 1982 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“META XVII”

“META XIX”

“META XX”

“META XXI”

“META XXII” 54” x 48 ½” 1982 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“META XXIII” 54” x 48 ½” 1982 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“META XXV” 54” x 48 ½” 1982 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“META XXV” (Side View) 54” x 48 ½” 1982 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“META XXII”

“META XXV”

#1 L to R “META XVII,” “META XIV,” “META XXIII,” “META VI’ Installation, O.K. Harris Gallery May 1-22, 1982

#2 L to R “META XXI,” “META XIX,” “META XX,” “META XXV’ Installation, O.K. Harris Gallery May 1-22, 1982

#1 L to R

#2 L to R

“I Want You” 74” x 50 ½” 1983 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Come On!” 88” x 64” 1983 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Pond” 64” x 104” 1983 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Kilim” 54” x 93” 1984 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“I Want You”

“Come On!”

“Pond” 64”

“Kilim”

“I Want You” (Side View) 74” x 50 ½” 1983 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Come On!” (Side View) 88” x 64” 1983 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Pond” (Side View) 64” x 104” 1983 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“Kilim” (Side View) 54” x 93” 1984 Fluorescent Paint on Aluminum Extrusions

“I Want You” (Side View)

“Come On!” (Side View)

“Pond” (Side View)

“Kilim” (Side View)

On completing the “Meta” series of Reflected-Light Paintings, and exhibiting them in May 1982 at the O.K. Harris Gallery in NYC, I abandoned the strictly minimalist and geometric direction in both my drawings and Reflected-Light Paintings. I experimented with a number of representational reflected-light images, testing the limits of iconographic possibilities and technical limitations of the process. The “ARAS” series was a natural extension of this search. Placing a nude, with all the inherent subtleties of color and shading, on an imaginary geometric patterned oriental rug gave me a perfect platform for experimentation, as well as the perfect model for the task, Sara.

Ivan Karp, my art dealer at the time, called the images “Beautifully Matisse-like,” yet felt that he couldn’t exhibit them. He was right in making this decision, as I was right in creating the paintings. I believe that these works still remain among my best.