Bentley Meeker
Exploring Light

517 W. 37th Street NY, NY 10018
March 6 – March 16, 2019

Garvey|Simon is pleased to present Exploring Light, a new series of illuminated, sculptural works by Bentley Meeker.  The exhibition will take place during Armory week at 517 W. 37th Street NY, NY 10018, a street level gallery space in the Hudson Yards district in close proximity to the fairs. The show will be open and on view Tuesday - Saturday, 11am-6pm, and by appointment. An artist talk will be held in the gallery on Saturday, March 16, at 2pm.

This new work is the result of Meeker’s observations and research into visible light and its impact on the human psyche.  The artist’s expertise comes from decades of experimentation, study and use of varying light frequencies via his studio practice, as well as his commercial career as a renown lighting designer. 

Meeker’s work is primarily focused around the essence and exploration of light’s nature, its meaning to us, and the changes in our collective use of light. His mission is to create reactions and relationships between light sources and the human experience.

Exploring Light consists of forty contemplative installations that create a unifying tableau and invite the viewer to immerse themselves in a collective perception. These meticulously constructed sculptures comment on the intersection of human culture and the natural world.

Meeker’s works scrape down our experience of artificial light to its rawest components. Using contrasting light frequencies and their resulting hues as observable springboards for contemplation, Meeker nudges the observer toward a new awareness about our environment by creating perceptional effects that are felt by the viewer long after the show is over.

About Bentley Meeker

New York City-based artist Bentley Meeker's practice is concerned with the component properties of light and how light affects the overall human experience.

In 2014, he created “The "H” in Harlem,” a large-scale public art installation suspended under the 125th St and 12th Ave viaduct in Harlem, NYC in conjunction with the New York City Department of Transportation's art initiative and the 125th Street BID.

He has been a multi-year featured artist at Burning Man festival in Northwestern Nevada, creating the lighting for the Temples of Transition, Whollyness, and Promise in 2011, 2013, and 2015 respectively.

With “Weedworld,” his 2017 installation at Canada’s Penticton Public Art Museum, Meeker paid playful homage to marijuana with four pot-leaf light painted walls and glass etched dichroic filters through which light was projected to create an immersive and transporting experience for the viewer.

Additionally, he was a featured artist twice at the Southampton Arts Center, once for the opening exhibition in 2014 and has put up multiple solo shows at the National Arts Club, the CORE: club, as well as at galleries in Chelsea and SoHo.

In 2012, Meeker created a solo light installation in five parts, “Flame to Now IV,” at the Whitney Museum of American Art's Breuer building, and, later, in collaboration with performance artist Carolee Schneeman, was the first artist to have a work of any kind grace the museum’s building downtown in the Meatpacking District.

In 2016, Meeker was directly commissioned by Michelle Obama to create a light sculpture for the Nordic state dinner at The White House.

Outside of his artistic endeavors, Meeker is the founder of Bentley Meeker Lighting & Staging, Inc., a lighting company known for creating unique light environments for many important gala, corporate and cultural events throughout New York City.

Meeker lives in Spanish Harlem.

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