Untitled, Rockne Krebs, 1965
Sculpture Minus Object, Rockne Krebs, 1968. The first ever 3-D laser beam installation.
Untitled, Rockne Krebs, 1970
Inclined Planes, Rockne Krebs, Johnstown, PA, 1989

““I was influenced by Anthony Caro and the Color Painters, and I was trying to find a way to define the three-dimensional space that makes sculpture different from painting,” Rockne Krebs explains. “It was the sheer light and beauty of color and the way the color painters used it and presented it that reinforced my desire to see color in sculpture and three-dimensional space.” But Krebs couldn’t figure out how to go about doing this until 1966 when he envisioned structures in space made of light. He tried developing artwork centered on light produced by the sun and slide projectors but wasn’t satisfied with the results.

Then in the spring of 1967 he saw a picture in a magazine of what would later define much of his artistic endeavors – the fierce color of a laser. “The influence of the color painters allowed me to use the absolute red of the helium-neon (HeNe) laser light,” he says. It was one of the first lasers ever produced, and Krebs wanted one.

He purchased a HeNe laser from University Labs in Palo Alto, California, and began experimenting with it in his studio…” Jennifer M. Rice, Optics & Photonics News, 1999

© Rockne Krebs Art Trust/Licensed by VAGA at ARS, New York, NY

1965 painting a foreshadowing work of art #predictive #sciart #artandtechnology #linesoflight

Instagram reel 12/22/2024: https://tinyurl.com/56fc5drn