RICHMOND, VA.- The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in partnership with the Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University's Museum of the Arts, presents "Artificial Light," an exhibition featuring dynamic new work by emerging and underexposed artists whose primary material will be various forms of light. John Ravenal, VMFA's Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art of VMFA, is the curator for "Artificial Light," which will be on view at the Anderson Gallery through October 29, 2006.

Following its presentation in Richmond, "Artificial Light" will travel to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in North Miami (MOCA at Goldman Warehouse), where it will be on view from Dec. 7, 2006, to Feb. 18, 2007, in conjunction with Art Basel Miami Beach 2006. The exhibition will also coincide with MOCA's showing of "Elusive Signs: Bruce Nauman Works with Light."

"Artificial Light" will feature new sculpture and installations by Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, Spencer Finch, Ceal Floyer, Iván Navarro, Nathaniel Rackowe and Douglas Ross. For these artists, actual light – natural and artificial – serves as a means to engage issues of perception, memory, energy and power. Influenced by the pioneers of light sculpture from the 1960s and '70s, including Dan Flavin, James Turrell and Bruce Nauman, these rising artists have expanded the use of light as a sculptural form to address a broad spectrum of concerns. The exhibition's title refers to the fact that electric light will serve as a primary material, but it also refers to themes related to the concept of artifice, such as technology, nature, beauty and mystery.

"There has been a resurgence of interest among younger artists working with light as a material," said exhibition curator Ravenal. "I'm excited to present new work by the particular artists in this exhibition. They represent a spectrum of approaches and make powerful, thoughtful and poetic light-based objects and installations. I'm sure our audiences will find their work a memorable experience."

Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla have worked together since 1997 to create works of sculpture, photography, video and installations. Their work often responds to issues related to globalization by conceptually and physically linking distant locations. Allora and Calzadilla are short-listed for the Guggenheim Museum's Hugo Boss prize and exhibited in the 2006 Whitney Biennial. Allora was born in Philadelphia in 1974 and Calzadilla in Havana, Cuba, in 1971. They live in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Spencer Finch explores the physical and mental aspects of perception and memory through work that draws upon intense observation of everyday experience. Finch was born in New Haven in 1962 and lives in Brooklyn.

Ceal Floyer makes spare interventions into existing spaces using light, sound and video. Her works with light include projections of illusory images onto walls and floors that gently subvert usual viewing habits by asking the viewer to look more closely to confirm, or deny, the information supplied by the senses. Floyer, an English citizen, was born in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1968 and lives in Berlin.

Iván Navarro, whose recent work centers on functional forms such as tables, chairs and doorways, incorporates a range of political references, as well as elements of social critique. He often explores utopian and dystopian themes, drawing upon formalist language and Modernist art and design. Navarro was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1972. He lives in Brooklyn.

Nathaniel Rackowe makes large-scale kinetic works that use light and common industrial materials to explore the boundaries of physical spaces and the relationship of these spaces to the viewer. Rackowe recently completed an outdoor public commission for Cardinal Place development in Victoria Square, London. He was born in Cambridge, England, in 1975 and lives in London.

Douglas Ross makes work that displays his interest in framing new perspectives. He uses a diverse range of media, including sound, video, installation and text. For "Artificial Light," Ross will re-create "Picture Motion," in which he used motorized, rotating horizontal blinds to transform the view from the 91st floor of the World Trade Center, creating a sensation reminiscent of silent films. Ross was born in Brockton, Mass., in 1969 and lives in New York City.

In late August and early September 2006, the artists participating in "Artificial Light" will be in residence at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts (VCUarts), where they will either make or complete work on-site at the Anderson Gallery with the assistance of graduate art students. The artists will also participate in the school's distinguished visiting artists program, allowing for a valuable exchange with students through critiques and lectures.

"It's an amazing experience for our students to work closely with international artists in the production of work for our gallery exhibitions," said Richard E. Toscan, VCU's vice provost of international affairs and dean of the School of the Arts.

Truland Systems is the National Corporate Sponsor for "Artificial Light." The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation gave a major grant. Additional funding has been received from Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy, The FUNd at CACF, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, the Robert Lehman Foundation, and Marion Boulton Stroud.

A full-color catalogue, co-published by VCU, VMFA and MOCA, will document the complete installations and include scholarly essays that will provide historical context for the works in "Artificial Light." John Ravenal, exhibition curator, will contribute an essay. In addition there will be commissioned essays from Paula Feldman, a London-based arts editor and writer, and Kathleen Forde, curator at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. The work of each of the participating artists will be discussed in depth, including analyses of the project and how it relates to their overall body of work, and the thematic and symbolic connections established by the use of light. The catalogue will be released in December 2006 in conjunction with the exhibition's presentation at MOCA.

"Artificial Light" curator Ravenal is the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where he has worked since 1998. Prior to that, he was the associate curator of 20th-century art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Ravenal has organized numerous exhibitions of contemporary painting, sculpture, video art and installation art. In 2002, he organized "Outer & Inner Space," an exhibition at VMFA featuring recent video installations by Shirin Neshat, Pipilotti Rist, and Jane & Louise Wilson. These were shown in relation to single-channel videos from the '60s and '70s by artists such as Vito Acconci, Bill Viola and Nam June Paik. In 2003, he organized the first solo museum show of sculptures by Robert Lazzarini, which was recognized by the International Association of Art Critics as one of the year's best exhibitions.