Светлината като концептуален и изобразителен материал: призмен метод за съвременното визуално изкуство
Light as Conceptual and Pictorial Material: A Prism-Based Method for Contemporary Visual Arts

Summary/Abstract: This paper proposes a compact analytical apparatus for reading light in contemporary visual arts through three historically grounded painterly strategies – sfumato, chiaroscuro, and tenebrism. Treated not as stylistic labels but as operational categories, these “prisms” map three stable modalities of light: atmospheric diffusion and boundary-softening (sfumato), constructive contrast and compositional structuring (chiaroscuro), and concentrated dramatic accent within darkness (tenebrism). Drawing on Leonardo’s Trattato della pittura [cap. 176], Baxandall’s “period eye,” and Friedlaender’s account of Caravaggio’s radical use of darkness, the study argues for the transferability of these strategies beyond painting – into installation, photography, and time-based media. Three concise case studies (Ann Veronica Janssens, Vija Celmins, and Cornelia Parker) demonstrate the method’s contemporary validity: light operates not as décor but as a structuring agent of perception and meaning.

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