
b. 1946
b. 1946
Photo: Darren O’Brien/Guzelia
Anthony McCall is widely recognized for his ‘solid-light’ installations, hybrid works between sculpture, drawing, and cinema in which projected beams of light inscribe three-dimensional forms into smoke-filled interiors.
Active in the avant-garde cinema communities of London and New York in the 1960s and 1970s, McCall began working in film and performance before developing his ‘solid-light’ installations, beginning with Light Describing A Cone, 1973. In this work, audiences moved freely within the space as a three-dimensional cone of light slowly emerged from a projector. P. Adams Sitney, in his landmark history of avant-garde cinema, Visionary Film: The American Avant-Garde, described McCall’s installations of the 1970s as, “the most brilliant case of an observation on the essentially sculptural quality of every cinematic situation.” Since the 1990s, technological advancements have allowed McCall to continue to develop these installations, to involve multiple projectors inscribing increasingly complex and interwoven forms. Recent solid-light works such as Split Second consist of multiple, interpenetrating solid-light forms creating a dynamic, activated space. McCall’s work makes visible the immaterial qualities of cinema, including light, space, and duration. His installations liberate the viewer to engage with their materials through both the body and the eye.
The historical importance of McCall’s work’s has been internationally recognized in such exhibitions as Dark Rooms, Solid Light, at the Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York (2019), Anthony McCall: Solid Light Works, at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, New York (2018); Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905-2016 at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2016); On Line at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010-11), The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality and the Projected Image at the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC (2008); and The Geometry of Motion 1920s/1970s at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2008).
McCall’s work has also been exhibited at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Tate Britain, London, England; Institut d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne, France; Musée de Rochechouart, France; SFMoMA, San Francisco; Serpentine Gallery, London, England; Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand; the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal; the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany; the Faena Arts Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina; LOK | Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland; Eye Film Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura, Lugano, Switzerland; and the Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, England, amongst others. His [MOU3] [AL4] work is represented in numerous collections, including, Tate, London, England; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany; Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Spain; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; SFMoMA, San Francisco; the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden; and the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC.
Anthony McCall currently lives and works in New York.
For more information, please visit www.anthonymccall.com.
Split-Second Mirror III, 2022
horizontal, single projection,
media player, digital file, digital projector, haze machine, mirror
duration: 16 minutes (looped)
(AMc-260.1)
Skylight, 2020
vertical, single projection, soundtrack by David Grubbs,
media player, digital file, digital projector, audio speakers, haze machine
duration: 16 minutes (looped)
(AMc-259.1)
Split Second (Mirror), 2018
graphite and photocopy on paper
paper: 17 1/2 x 24 3/4 inches (44.5 x 62.9 cm)
framed: 20 3/8 x 27 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches (51.8 x 69.9 x 3.8 cm)
unique
(AMc-252)
Spinning Column 3, 2018
gelatin silver print mounted on museum board and aluminum
image: 33 1/2 x 23 5/8 inches (85.1 x 60 cm)
framed: 40 3/8 x 30 1/2 x 1 3/4 inches (102.6 x 77.5 x 4.4 cm)
(AMC-235.1)
Long Film for Four Projectors, 1974
Installation study
photocopy and pencil on paper
paper: 8 x 10 1/2 inches (20.32 x 26.67 cm)
framed: 12 3/4 x 15 1/4 inches (32.4 x 38.7 cm)
(AMC-WP.181)
Smoke Screen I, 2017
gelatin silver print mounted on museum board and aluminum
paper: 61 3/8 x 45 1/16 inches (155.9 x 114.5 cm)
framed: 62 1/8 x 45 3/4 x 1 7/8 inches (157.8 x 116.2 x 4.8 cm)
(AMC-224.L.3)
Crossing, 2016
computer, QuickTime movie file, four video projectors, two haze machines
one cycle: 20 minutes
(AMC-249.TBD)
Face to Face, 2013
computer, two video projectors, two haze machines, two double-sided
projection screens, Matrox splitter, QuickTime movie file one cycle: 30 minutes in two parts
edition of 3 with 1 AP
Programming: Eric Mika
(AMc-183)
"Coupling": Study for Projected, Solid-Light Installation, Guggenheim Museum, Rotunda to Floor, 2009
paper: 37 7/8 x 27 inches (96.2 x 68.6 cm)
(AMc-186)
Line Describing a Cone 2.0, 2010
video projector, computer, digital file, haze machine
one cycle: 30 minutes
dimensions variable
(AMC-153.TBD)
Column (Bending to the Wind), 2009
graphite on paper
paper: 55 3/4 x 38 inches (141.6 x 96.5 cm)
framed: 58 1/2 x 41 inches (148.6 x 104.1 cm)
(AMc-130)
Coupling, 2009
video projector, computer, QuickTime Movie file, haze machine
one cycle: 16 minutes in four parts
variable dimensions
edition of 5 with 1 AP
work includes a signed and numbered certificate
(AMc-119)
Crossing the Hudson (April 12, the 295th night), 2009
pencil on paper in 3 parts
paper: 43 1/2 x 36 3/8 inches (110.5 x 92.5 cm) each
overall paper dimensions: 43 1/2 x 109 1/4 inches (110.5 x 277.5 cm)
framed: 47 1/2 x 113 1/4 inches (120.6 x 287.7 cm)
(AMc-136)
You and I, Horizontal (III), 2007
Computer, QuickTime movie file, two video projectors, two haze machines. One cycle 30 minutes, in two parts (horizontal).
dimensions variable
edition of 3 with 1 AP
(AMc-24)
Landscape for Fire, 1972/2006
16mm color optical film with sound transferred to DVD, 7:30 minutes
edition of 15 with 3 APs
(AMC-23)
Studies for "Breath", 2009
3 works: graphite on paper
1 work: pigment print
paper: 13 3/4 x 10 3/4 inches (34.9 x 27.3 cm) each
(AMc-126A-D)
Breath II, 2004
video projector, computer, digital file, haze machine
one cycle: 10 minutes
variable dimensions
edition of 5 with 1 AP
(AMc-12)
Partial Cone, 1974
schematic drawing; graphite on paper
paper: 39 3/4 x 28 1/4 inches (101 x 71.8 cm)
signed, titled and dated by artist, recto
(AMC-WP.176)
Doubling Back, 2003
Computer, computer script, video projector, haze machine. One cycle 30 minutes, in two parts (horizontal)
dimensions variable
edition of 5 with 1 AP
(AMC-35)
In Circuit, 1974
Animation camera schema
pencil, colored pencil, and red ink on paper
paper: 22 x 30 inches (56 x 76 cm)
framed: 28 x 36 inches (71.1 x 91.4 cm)
(AMC-WP.177)
Line Describing a Cone, 1973
16mm projected installation, 30 minutes
open edition
(AMC-45)
Fire Cycles II (Stockholm, September 3, 1973), 1973
vintage gelatin silver print
paper: 8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
(AAMC-WP.134)
White Noise Installation, Surge on the Diagonal I, 1973/2008
ink and wash on paper
paper: 14 1/8 x 23 inches (35.9 x 58.4 cm)
framed: 16 3/4 x 25 3/8 inches (42.5 x 64.5 cm)
(AMC-WP.12)
Circulation Figures, 1972/2011
Room Installation comprised of two mirrors, one double-sided projection screen, 16 mm film transferred to QuickTime movie file, one video projector, four audio speakers, newsprint. Total running time: 36 minutes
dimensions variable
edition of 3 with 1 AP
(AMc-158)
Neil Koenig, ideaXme Board Advisor and former Senior BBC Series Producer interviews Artist, Anthony McCall.
Installation video of Anthony McCall: Split Second at Sean Kelly, New York, December 14, 2018 - January 26, 2019, Video: Sean Mattison, Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York © Anthony McCall
VernissageTV: Anthony McCall: Solid Light Works / Pioneer Works, New York, March 6, 2018
Freunde der Nationalgalerie: Anthony McCall, Five Minutes of Pure Sculpture. August 17, 2016.
Arts Hub: Interview with Anthony McCall, December 5, 2016
Blouin ArtInfo: Anthony McCall's Notebooks & Duration Drawings, Jul. 9, 2015
TateShots: Anthony McCall – Line Describing a Cone, Aug. 13, 2008