What's new at Beyond Light

The New Galleries are up!

...And so another year is upon us, an eventful one at that, if one is to believe the papers. For me it is also going to be an eventful year. I have several exciting shows coming up that I hope will give some exposure to my deepening interest in what x-rays are able to show us about life, science, art, and nature.

So that was a hint of what I have coming up, but first some secretarial duties. My new show schedule is up, well, at least the first few dates are, and the rest will be posted shortly. I also now have my laptop with me at all times so I can get back to all your messages more conveniently when I am on the road. Also, we are looking at several possible options to build an ordering system on the web site so that the x-rayographs can be ordered directly from the galleries, but that may take a little while longer to develop. Finally we have expanded our catalog with a couple of new galleries as well as my first Triptych, with three x-rayographs composed to hang together.

So let's get back to my new subjects. As many of you know I have been fascinated with the interplay of science and nature, and my art is essentially an investigation of that relationship. As I am conceptualizing my artwork, whether on a cool Saturday morning in the dark room, or a warm and balmy September afternoon at the arboretum, I am constantly surprised, sometimes even blind-sided by the new relationships that that I discover. It is truly remarkable how such a link, association, or thread, if you will, binding together these two seemingly desperate fields of science and nature, can lie hidden in a simple and common flower that we may pass everyday without noticing. And once it is traversed by x-rays, this new relationship is there plain and clear for everyone to see. That is what I am continually discovering as I find new subjects to include in my pieces.

The new images this year delve deeper and more thoughtfully into the mysterious features that lie inside flowers, shells, and even common objects and that in turn speak to us on another level. Essentially they search for shapes and forms that have a message in them that reaches beyond the direct subject of the image and suggest a greater meaning - call it a morphology, of sorts. Of course, what one sees in a piece of art may be entirely different from what another sees, and so it is really up to the viewer to decide what is relevant in each composition.

This year, as I started doing with my abstract pieces, I have titled each of my new pieces with a hint of what speaks to me, personally. This is by no means the only relationship that exists in the subject nor is it representative of all there is to find in each image, but it provides a small first step into what I hope will be an ongoing journey of layers of discovery for the viewer. Thus each piece that one hangs over a mantle or sofa will offer new revelations over the time that it is owned and admired, perhaps for years or decades to come. It is an investment in art as well as an investment in meaning.

I hope that you enjoy my new pieces this year, and I do hope that you are able to come and see us at the shows.

Sincerely,
Albert Koetsier