Amanda Means has focused on light throughout her oeuvre, beginning in the 1960s, experimenting with camera-less techniques and negative exposures. In her ongoing Colour Light Bulbs series, these modest household items are ‘transformed from their mass-produced origins to photographic objects of limitless potential and lavish beauty.’ Created using a rare 20x24 Polaroid camera – one of only five built by Polaroid in the late 1970s – the work offered here is a mesmerising full-frame portrait of a light bulb with its filament glowing against a rich turquoise background. ‘I loved making exposures with the mammoth camera,’ explains Means, ‘peeling back the negative of each large print to instantly reveal these sensual, energy-filled, glimmering globes.’ The New York-based artist has exhibited internationally and her work resides in numerous public institutions, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, SFMOMA and the National Gallery of Canada. Means was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017 for her ongoing contributions to the medium of photography.
2001 Unique colour Polaroid print. Sheet: 82.9 x 55.6 cm (32 5/8 x 21 7/8 in.) Frame: 106.7 x 78.7 cm (42 x 31 in.) Signed, titled, dated and numbered in ink on the verso.