Reflections on Burchfield and Light

Thoughts from 2022 Artist-in-Residence Mike Glier

Charles Burchfield swallowed the sun it seems, since many of his paintings glow from within as if powered by endless fusion. Although the effect is otherworldly, the experience is entirely biological and rooted in our brains. 

Years ago, when fumbling around with paint, I noticed that white can glow from within when surrounded by a light, saturated yellow. This seemingly supernatural effect is heightened when the yellow, itself, is surrounded by dark hues. The yellow brings out the blue notes in the white creating a vibrating, complementary contrast, and the surrounding dark hues accentuate this effect through a contrast of value, all of which Joseph Albers illuminated in The Interaction of Color. There is, however, more to this illusion than Albers can account for. The New York Times recently published a report, “This Optical Illusion has a Revelation about your Brain and Eyes”, by Richard Sima, about how the brain anticipates situations in which your pupils constrict, such as looking at the sun through a filter of leaves.

This Asahi illusion takes advantage of our brains tendency to prophesize, by emulating the light on a woodland walk, which causes the pupils to constrict and create an experience of brilliance. I suspect Burchfield did not know of the Asahi illusion, but he knew how to use it to create an experience of illumination with all the philosophical and spiritual notions attached.

As the artist in residence at the 2022 Burchfield Penney Art Center, I am posting about Burchfield as ideas arise.

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