Doug Wheeler is a paradigmatic figure of the form of Minimalism that emerged in California in the 1960s and 1970s. Often called the “Light and Space” movement, members of this group of artists are known for constructing environments in which light takes on material form, creating otherworldly and even mystical experiences for its viewers. Wheeler first studied illustration at the Chouinard Art Institute (now the California Institute of the Arts) in the 1960s, but soon took up abstract painting after seeing the work of Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko. In 1965, after making a group of near-monochrome paintings with smooth, even surfaces, Wheeler began to introduce light sources into his works, placing the canvases atop Plexiglas structures that include neon light strips and cause the painting to emanate an unearthly glow. Beginning in 1966, light became Wheeler’s primary material. This period of discovery included the construction of his first light encasement works, pieces in which ultraviolet neon is embedded within a rectangular vacuum-formed Plexiglas structure. The edges of the case are rounded and its surface is sprayed with a lacquer, giving the work an opaque white appearance. Around this time, Wheeler also began to expand his work into the architectural environment itself, and the light encasements were placed in separate, specially designed rooms with curved walls. 

Using only light to create an immersive sculptural environment, Wheeler may be evoking sensations he regularly experienced while growing up in rural Arizona in the expansive desert landscape and in the cabin of his father’s airplane. In a recent discussion, the artist remarked on the latter, noting that his light sculptures and environments are attempts to create spaces that are vast, light-filled and infinite, like those he witnesses while in flight.

Label from Looking at Tomorrow: Light and Language from The Panza Collection, 1967–1990, October 24, 2015–February 7, 2016