Artists have always used light to emphasize certain aspects of their works of art. How light bathes a basket of fruit, for example, or shines on a pearl earring, can accentuate an artwork\u2019s attributes. The contrast of darkness with lightness can be alluring. Chiaroscuro, for example, is a technique using a stark contrast between light and dark to create dramatic compositions, most famously used by artists such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Goya. In modern and contemporary art, only the medium has changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the 20th<\/sup> century artists began to use light itself as art. Light art, as it\u2019s come to be known, can take multiple media forms, including sculpture, installation and performance. Installation lights artists use light color, intensity, filters, angles and shadows to create their works. You may have seen more of what\u2019s called light art than you realize; neon signs, holographic images projected on a building, abstract light fixtures or light sculptures. Light art dominates museums as well as commercial and residential spaces, making it a prominent and accessible art form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The light bulb was invented in 1879. Yet it\u2019s believed that an artist named El Lissitzky is the first to have used electrical light in his work \u2014 60 years later. One of the first object-based light sculptures was made by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy in the 1920s.<\/p>\n\n\n But using light in art goes back to ancient culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe interplay of dark and light has been a theme running from Greek and Roman sculpture to Renaissance painting to experimental film,\u201d explained art critic Hilarie M. Sheets. \u201cAs technology advanced from the glow of the electric light bulb to the computer monitor, artists have experimented with actual light as material and subject.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Light art as it\u2019s known today originated in the 1960s as kinetic, or Lumino kinetic, art. In later forms, some artists used light to create psychedelic experiences. From that movement came minimalism, with artists such as the late Dan Flavin, who worked with fluorescent light tubes, playing with light as it relates to sculpture, movement and various spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Neon took the light art scene in the 1980s. During this decade, electric neon lights resurged as part of the arts scene. Artists began using neon in interior design and sculpture in an effort to push boundaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The newest light art trend is projection mapping, which projects video onto an object, or wall. When shown against three-dimensional objects, a projected video employs color, light and movement to give the appearance of transforming a static object into something almost lifelike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many artists have gained notoriety using light as an artistic medium. From public space exhibitions to museum showcases, light art uses everyday encounters to express an experience, a thought or an emotion. Most notable among artists using light:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Danish-born artist and inventor Thomas Wilfred<\/a> (1889\u20131968) was an early pioneer in using light as a medium of expression. Wilford\u2019s invention, the Clavilux, was a keyboard-controlled instrument for manipulating projections of light he called Lumia. During the 20s and 30s, Wilfred founded the Art Institute of Light in New York City, where he hosted a series of influential Lumia recitals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yoko Ono is a pioneering conceptual artist whose work often uses light as a civic symbol rather than sheer spectacle. Her Imagine Peace Tower<\/em>, installed near Reykjav\u00edk, Iceland, projects vertical beams of light skyward each year as a call for peace, memory and collective participation. Search lights surrounding a wishing well direct 15 beams of light through prisms to create the tower. The Imagine Peace Tower lights the night sky over Reykjavik on key dates in John Lennon\u2019s life. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joseph Kosuth, another pioneer in conceptual art, is known for using language and light to impart meaning. With his use of neon text, Kosuth forces viewers to understand art as an idea rather than just a basic image. His works situate light within architectural spaces, such as museums and public spaces, encouraging viewers and passersby to think and find meaning in the illuminated words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ellsworth Kelly was an American painter, sculptor and printmaker in Spencertown, New York associated with Color Field painting and minimalism. His techniques emphasize line, color and form. Kelly often used bright colors.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the kinetic movement of the 1960s came the minimalism movement. Dan Flavin pioneered the use of fluorescent lighting tubes in his sculptural and installation light art. Flavin’s first professional installation using the fluorescent tube light was in 1963. The work was named Diagonal of Personal Ecstasy<\/em><\/a> and it featured a yellow fluorescent placed on a wall at a 45-degree angle from the floor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mona Hatoum\u2019s Terra Infirma comprises more than 30 sculptures and installations. Hatoum\u2019s work often references domestic and everyday objects with themes of home and displacement, global instability and political upheaval.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Romanian-born artist Adela Andea uses LED light and space, magnifying lenses and flexible neon tubes to immerse viewers in a sensory experience.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n This aerial sculpture\u2014100 feet of neon tubing looming overhead\u2014now hangs in the Museo Novecento in Milan, Italy. Giant windows entice you to look out onto the famous Duomo, yet, your eyes are drawn to Fontana\u2019s Structure in Neon for the 9th Milan Triennial at the Palazzo dell\u2019Arte, Milan 1951 <\/em>titled after the place where it was originally installed. Fontana\u2019s light art combined what he referred to as \u2018spatial concept\u201d and \u201cspatial environment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Among James Turrell\u2019s pieces is this installation at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, where Turrell used shape and light to immerse the visitor in purple. Turrell demonstrated here that light doesn\u2019t have to be static or displayed on a wall\u2014he shows that light can merely be part of an experience.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n In this piece, Jenny Holzer makes a statement about power by using light on words from declassified U.S. government documents. Her piece was displayed in the Whitney Museum, but Holzer\u2019s work has been exhibited in many places, including Times Square.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tony Oursler is a contemporary artist whose work blends projected light, video and sculptural form to create immersive, often unsettling installations. Oursler revolutionized multimedia art by projecting moving faces and imagery onto unconventional surfaces, such as spheres, dolls and architectural elements. His installations use light as a psychological and narrative tool rather than merely as a visual element.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gunda Foerster strays from post-minimalistic light, evoking a sense of awe and alienation. This piece, shown in Berlin, is called TUNNEL. Fluorescent yellow bulbs light and surround the hallway, emphasizing color, neon and unnatural light.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n By spelling words with light, Ben Rubin made a mark on the light art scene. With a multimedia background, Rubin used vacuum-fluorescent bulbs to display text from a chat room in real-time. By using dark and light from within a specialized light bulb, he created a unique piece.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jim Campbell created this piece, titled Eroding Wave<\/em>, in 2016. The editor-in-chief of Artnet<\/span> Andrew Goldstein hailed it as, “a cascade of lights that crescents over the viewer like breaking waves.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using lights, robotics, LED screens and film projections, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer alters how people interact within a space. Featured here is his piece Pulse Room<\/em>, where hanging incandescent light bulbs flash at the same rate as a visitor\u2019s heartbeat when they hold on an interface placed inside the room. Light can alter one\u2019s mood. When tied to a heartbeat, light can leave the visitor with a stronger sense of awareness.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n With a different approach than her peers, Angela Bulloch combines light art with mysticism. The Munster Cathedral displayed Bulloch\u2019s Night Sky: Mercury & Venus<\/em> above the altar. The juxtaposition pits the modernity of LED lights against stained glass.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Installed at Pinchukartcentre in <\/span>Ukraine\u2019s historic city, Kyiv, in 2011, Danish-Icelandic artist Eliasson\u2019s inspiration for Lamp for Urban Movement<\/em> is shadows and light and how the difference creates space. “Let\u2019s say that the spheres are machines that create space,\u201d Eliasson says. \u201cSome of them contain a light source inside that projects fragmented light out into the space where they are hanging, like a map projection. So it is not only, or primarily, the physical object in the space that interests me, but the way the light and the shadows and the colors claim and create space together. They perform architecture, you might say.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Peruvian-born Grimanesa Amor\u00f3s lives and works in New York City as an interdisciplinary artist known for large-scale installations of light sculpture. Amor\u00f3s first researches locations, histories and communities of her sites, and incorporates various elements from video, lighting and technology to create site-specific installations to engage architecture and create community.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Patrick Martinez (b.1980) is a Los Angeles based visual artist whose art practice features the use of neon lighting to underscore the critique of social justice within a language of urban architecture. His mixed media installations juxtaposes the manufactured materials of urban settings with his mixture of landscape painting, graffiti, and cultural iconography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keith Sonnier is a Postminimalist video and light artist. In 1968, Sonnier created his first artwork using neon. A neon<\/em> tube is a sealed glass tube with a metal electrode at each end, filled with one of a number of gases at low pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has been one of the most successful with this technique. Over the years, Sonnier has used incandescent, fluorescent, as well as LED lighting. Sonnier\u2019s pieces tend to include light tubes, aluminum and other objects to create electric light sculptures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As LED lighting technology evolves, it affords light artists a broader range of control over the light used in art installations. For example, RGBW color tuning<\/a> allows artists to set specific colors for light within a piece and change colors as desired. IoT lighting<\/a> provides voice-control, allowing the artist or exhibit visitors to control lighting with voice commands. <\/p>\n\n\n\nTable of contents<\/h2>
Background on light art<\/h2>\n\n\n
![\"Russian](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,format=webp,quality=80,width=2082\/https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Screen-Shot-2019-10-25-at-12.10.47-PM.png\")
<\/a>![\"Moholy](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,format=webp,quality=80,width=600\/https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Moholy-Nagy_Light_Reflection.jpg\")
<\/a>From bulb to projection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Light artists<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Thomas Wilfred<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,format=webp,quality=80,width=1400\/https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Lumia-machine.jpg\")
Yoko Ono<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,format=webp,quality=80,width=2560\/https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Imagine-Peace-Tower.jpg\")
Joseph Kosuth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,format=webp,quality=80,width=1100\/https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/JK-2015-Agnosia-at-SKNY-Install-photo-Jason-Wyche-16-qfjyzu0dn9juuj8ot9sxims693f1ely1ypcy5ukgtu.jpg\")
Ellsworth Kelly<\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Ellsworth-Kelly\u2019s-temple-of-light-Glass.jpg\")
<\/a>Dan Flavin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/DanFlavinLightArtFluorescent-1024x768.jpeg\")
Mona Hatoum<\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"Mona](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Hatoum_Mona_Light_Art.jpg\")
<\/a>Adela Andea<\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"A.57](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/AdelaAndea_LED.jpg\")
<\/a>Lucio Fontana<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Lucio](\"https:\/\/www.artribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Lucio-Fontana-Struttura-al-neon-per-la-IX-Triennale-di-Milano-1951.-Tubo-di-cristallo-con-neon-bianco.-%C2%A9-Fondazione-Lucio-Fontana-Milano.jpg\")
James Turrell<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"James](\"http:\/\/jamesturrell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/OndoPink1.jpg\")
Jenny Holzer<\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"Jenny](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Jenny-Holzer.jpg\")
<\/a>Tony Oursler<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/fit=contain,format=webp,quality=80,width=1024\/https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Oursler-Exhibit-1024x683.jpg\")
Gunda Foerster<\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"Gunda](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/1200px-Gunda_Fo%CC%88rster_Tunnel.jpg\")
<\/a>Ben Rubin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"14b9044736d747f1327e1a5b1011c7c5](\"https:\/\/i.pinimg.com\/736x\/14\/b9\/04\/14b9044736d747f1327e1a5b1011c7c5--rubin-neon-signs.jpg\")
Jim Campbell<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Jim](\"https:\/\/inhabitat.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/1\/files\/2016\/05\/Jim-Campbell-LED-Light-Installation-Exploded-View.jpg\")
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer<\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"Rafael](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Rafael-Lozano-Hemmer-Pulse-Room-1024x657.jpeg\")
Angela Bulloch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Angela](\"https:\/\/www.estherschipper.com\/custom_images\/1200x630c\/usr\/exhibitions\/images\/148\/ab723-night-sky_mercury-and-venus_2010_basel_11.jpg\")
Olafur Eliasson<\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"Olafur](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/lamp-for-urban-movement_10286.jpg\")
Grimanesa Amor\u00f3s<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Grimanesa](\"https:\/\/www.grimanesaamoros.com\/wp-content\/grand-media\/image\/grimanesa-amoros-ludwig-museum-ocupante-1.jpg\")
Patrick Martinez<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/patrick-martinez-1024x576.jpg\")
Keith Sonnier<\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"Keith](\"https:\/\/www.alconlighting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Keith_Sonnier_Installation_Lighting.jpg\")
<\/a>LED innovation in light art<\/h2>\n\n\n\n