Wenyon & Gamble

Last updated
Susan Gamble
Born1957 (age 65–66)
Edmonton, London, England
Education Winchester School of Art; Goldsmiths College; University of Cambridge
Known for Photography, Installation art, Holography
Awards UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts; Shearwater Foundation Holography Award
Michael Wenyon
Born1955 (age 67–68)
Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
Education University of Bristol; Imperial College London
Known for Photography, Installation art, Holography
Awards UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts; Shearwater Foundation Holography Award; Winston Churchill Traveling Fellowship

Wenyon & Gamble is the name used by the art team of Susan Gamble and Michael Wenyon.

Contents

Susan Gamble & Michael Wenyon are collaborating visual artists, known for their work using holography and for art works resulting from their residencies in observatories and other scientific institutions. As a team they have worked with photographic technology since 1983. They are married and have lived together since 1981.

In 1993 they were awarded the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of The Arts, for their contributions to new technology art. [1]

As a team they combine different academic backgrounds: Gamble has a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths' College, London and a PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science from Cambridge University. Wenyon has a BSc in physics from Bristol University, UK, and an MSc in optics, from Imperial College London; on graduating, he wrote one of the first popular textbooks on holography. [2]

The British writer Marina Benjamin said about their work:

Wenyon and Gamble are deaf to John Keats's accusation that Newton destroyed the rainbow; they applaud the artistic merit of theory, the authored character of science, and the beauty of artifice. [3]

Meeting & Early Work

Susan Gamble and Michael Wenyon met in 1980 at Goldsmiths' Holography Workshop, Goldsmiths’ College, University of London, an experimental studio set up for artists to experiment with holograms, the first such facility in Europe. They were the founding staff of the Workshop, modeled on an open-access print-making studio, providing holographic instruction and equipment rental for visiting artists and art students. The Workshop was funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Arts Council of Great Britain. [4] [5] [6] Wenyon & Gamble organized a traveling exhibition from the workshop, The Holography Show, which opened at the Orchard Gallery, Derry and toured to seven other museums in England, Wales and Northern Ireland during 1982; the exhibition featured work by eight artists who had used the facility, including Bill Culbert, Jeremy Diggle, Peter Donebauer, Liliane Lijn and Andrew Logan. [7] [8] Other visiting artists included Bill Molteni and Rick Silberman.

Wenyon & Gamble's first collaborative exhibition, Wenyon & Gamble: New Holograms, was at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea, Wales, in 1984. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] The exhibition was opened by Sue Davies, the founder of The Photographers' Gallery, London.

Susan Gamble and Michael Wenyon, Nagoya, Japan, 1989, with 'Zone One' from 'The Heavens'. Gamble-Wenyon Nagoya.jpg
Susan Gamble and Michael Wenyon, Nagoya, Japan, 1989, with 'Zone One' from 'The Heavens'.

Joint Art Work

In 1987 Wenyon & Gamble were appointed artists in residence at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, then based in Herstmonceux Castle, Sussex. [14] It was a joint appointment with the composer and performer Ron Geesin, funded by South East Arts, a regional branch of the Arts Council of Great Britain. Wenyon & Gamble produced holographic works based on the optical experiments of Isaac Newton. [15] [16] They also began to produce work around the themes of optics and science for which they became known in this medium. [17] [18] [19] [20] [21]

Wenyon & Gamble lived in Japan between 1990 and 1992, teaching holography and fine art on the Plastics Arts & Mixed Media postgraduate program at the Institute of Art & Design, University of Tsukuba, near Tokyo. [22] [23] Working in a small holography facility over two years, they made a series of holograms of books from the university library. The books included many English-language art books translated into Japanese—texts by Ernst Gombrich and Bernard Leach—as well as Japanese books which interested the artists for their form and structure but which they were unable to read. [24] [25] The resulting installation Bibliography was exhibited in 1992 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, and later the same year at the Art Tower Mito [26] in Mito, Ibaraki, with support from the British Council.

The artists received a fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust in 1994 to work at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. [27]

Between 1993 and 2000 Wenyon & Gamble were based in Boston, where Gamble was a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Wenyon designed holographic products for the Polaroid Corporation. During this time they produced an installation Bibliomancy of holograms of books using an unused photographic darkroom at the Boston Athenæum, one of America’s oldest libraries. [28] Historian Norman Bryson wrote of this work in the exhibition catalog:

The truly fascinating dimension of holography, and of this installation, is its overcoming of historical fixity, or temporal closure: because the hologram exists always and only in the present, it can never be captured and confined within linear time. Its inability to arrive on the scene of history in any definitive or final sense is precisely what is magical about it. [29]

At this time Wenyon & Gamble were also resident artists at the Haystack Observatory of MIT, a radio observatory with no optical telescopes. [30] [31] The photographs they made there, using the telescopes themselves as a rotating camera platform, "are dead-pan representations that demystify the industry of science and its fetishistic dependence upon equipment". [32]

They have also produced public artworks, including The Quiet Sun, 2002, a mosaic in a swimming pool at the White Horse Leisure Centre, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, based on a solar spectrum from the SOHO Satellite managed by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Using photography since 2000 they have documented scientific laboratories, observatories, and sites used for popular science presentations in the United States, United Kingdom, Cuba and India.

Susan Gamble and Michael Wenyon, New York City. 2016. Wengam.jpg
Susan Gamble and Michael Wenyon, New York City. 2016.

Their panoramic photograph of Steve Squyres, the principal investigator on the Mars Exploration Rover team, taken in his office at Cornell University, is in the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; it was exhibited in Americans Now at the Gallery in 2010/11.

The exhibition A Universe held up for Inspection was held at the MagnanMetz Gallery, New York, April 20 – May 25, 2012. [33]

Domes & Palaces – Constructing Science was exhibited at the New York Hall of Science, June 18 – September 11, 2016. Art critic and author Eleanor Heartney wrote an accompanying text about this work [34]

Out of Place is the artists' most recent exhibition at the Magnan Metz Gallery, New York, from November 4 to December 17, 2016. [35]

Public Collections

Wenyon & Gamble's works are in public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Academy of Sciences, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, the List Visual Arts Center (MIT), and the National Portrait Gallery (United States). They have exhibited at the Tate Liverpool, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. [36] [37]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holography</span> Recording to reproduce a three-dimensional light field

Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later reconstructed. It is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, it is possible to make a hologram for any type of wave.

Lloyd Cross is an American physicist and holographer.

The MIT Museum, founded in 1971, is located at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It hosts collections of holography, technology-related artworks, artificial intelligence, architecture, robotics, maritime history, and the history of MIT. Its holography collection of 1800 pieces is the largest in the world, though only a few selections from it are usually exhibited. As of 2023, works by the kinetic artist Arthur Ganson are the largest long-running displays. There is a regular program of temporary special exhibitions, often on the intersections of art and technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moysés Baumstein</span>

Moysés Baumstein was a Brazilian artist. Baumstein worked in many fields: from literary creation to painting, from film making to holography. He was driven by singular curiosity and diligence and typified as a "Renaissance Man" joining science with art throughout his accomplishments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Benton</span>

Stephen Anthony Benton was the E. Rudge ('48) and Nancy Allen Professor of Media & Sciences, and the Director for Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was the inventor of the rainbow hologram and a pioneer in medical imaging and fine arts holography. Benton held 14 patents in optical physics and photography, and taught media arts and sciences at MIT.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Holographics</span>

Australian Holographics was a laboratory based in Adelaide, South Australia. It was established in 1989 with the specific objective to produce high quality large format holograms. After two years of research and development, the company began commercial operations in 1991. The laboratory eventually shut down in 1998.

Susan Silas is a visual artist working primarily in video, sculpture and photography. Her work, through self-portraiture, examines the meaning of embodiment, the index in representation, and the evolution of our understanding of the self. She is interested in the aging body, gender roles, the fragility of sentient being and the potential outcome of the creation of idealized selves through bio-technology and artificial intelligence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas J. Phillips</span> British physicist

Nicholas (Nick) John Phillips was an English physicist, notable for the development of photochemical processing techniques for the colour hologram. Holograms typically used to have low signal-to-noise ratios, and Phillips is credited as the pioneer of silver halide holographic processing techniques for producing high-quality reflection holograms.

Susanna J. Coffey is an American artist and educator. She is the F. H. Sellers Professor in Painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and lives and works in New York City. She was elected a member the National Academy of Design in 1999.

The Musée de l'Holographie was a notable museum of holography located in Paris, France. The museum was established in 1980, and located for some years in the Forum des Halles. According to S. Johnston, it closed its doors in 1994. But in fact, it was in April 1996. The museum's collections are now shown in touring exhibits in France and around the world.

Specular holography is a technique for making three dimensional imagery by controlling the motion of specular glints on a two-dimensional surface. The image is made of many specularities and has the appearance of a 3D surface-stippling made of dots of light. Unlike conventional wavefront holograms, specular holograms do not depend on wave optics, photographic media, or lasers.

Specialized Enterprise Holography Ltd. (SE Holography) is a company that specializes in production of holograms and holographic security elements. Holography, a member-company of the EDAPS Consortium, is among the founders of the security printing industry in Ukraine. Established in 2000 with the support of the International Centre the Institute of Applied Optics on behalf of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Holography Ltd. is a member of the International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA), a member of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) and a member of the Counterfeiting Intelligence Bureau at the International Chamber of Commerce of Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yves Gentet</span> French engineer and artist (born 1965)

Yves Gentet is a French engineer and artist, known for the invention of a creative method of holograms in colour Ultimate and a 3D holographic printer Chimera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dieter Jung (artist)</span> German artist

Dieter Jung is a German artist working in the field of holography, painting and installation art. He lives and works in Berlin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Culbert</span> New Zealand artist (1935–2019)

William Franklin Culbert was a New Zealand artist, notable for his use of light in painting, photography, sculpture and installation work, as well as his use of found and recycled materials.

Holography is often used as a plot device in science fiction, appearing in a wide range of books, films, television series, animation and video games. Probably the first reference is by Isaac Asimov in his Foundation series staritng in 1951.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Sapan</span>

Jason Sapan, also known as Dr. Laser is a holographer and actor who is the founder of Holographic Studios, the world's oldest gallery of holography, located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. He is one of the pioneers of holography, and has also worked as an educator, recording engineer, artist, blogger, and actor. He has created portrait holograms of Andy Warhol, President Bill Clinton, Isaac Asimov, NYC Mayor Ed Koch, Prime Minister Edward Heath, Pierre Cardin, Sally Jessy Raphael, John Kenneth Galbraith, Phyllis Diller, Billy Idol, The Smothers Brothers, Phil Donahue, and John Cage. His corporate clientele include commissions for Mitsubishi, AT&T, Tag Heuer, Goodyear, IBM and NYU Medical Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holographic Studios</span> Holography gallery

Holographic Studios, located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, is the world's oldest gallery of holography. It was founded in 1979 by Jason Sapan, one of the pioneers of holography. The storefront level gallery features the world's largest collection of motion image integral holograms. On display in the gallery are a variety of different types of holographic images, including a collection of celebrity hologram portraits. There are also cylindrical 360° floating images, multiple image holograms that change as you walk by, and computer generated holograms as well as a selection of novelty hologram items and stickers. Directly below the gallery is the laser laboratory where holograms are created. Holographic Studios creates custom holograms, holographic portraits, offers classes, and operates tours.

Margaret Benyon,, was a British artist. Trained as a painter, she was one of the first artists to use holography as a medium and had her first solo show of holograms in 1969. She was appointed to the Order of the British Empire in 2000 for her service to art and has been called "the mother of British holography".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Schreiber</span> American artist (born 1967)

Matthew Schreiber is an American artist who is known for his work in holography and for his large scale laser light sculptures. Matthew Schreiber produces work in a wide variety of mediums, including drawing, performance, sculpture, video, and light. Recurring subjects within Schreiber's work center on novelty, the occult, and spectacle by using tools of physics, technology and perception. He has exhibited his work internationally, and most recently at large music festivals, an example of which can be found in his 2018 installation at Dark MOFO in Tasmania, in which Schreiber created a massive laser-light installation that completely immersed viewers.

References

  1. ↑ ‘The UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts’, The UNESCO Courier, 48 (1995), 45 PDF.
  2. ↑ Wenyon, Michael, Understanding Holography (New York: Arco Pub. Co, 1978).
  3. ↑ Benjamin, Marina, ‘Holography and the Play of Light, Volumes, An Exhibition of Holography by Michael Wenyon and Susan Gamble, Photographers’ Gallery, London’, New Scientist, 1993, 41-42, PDF.
  4. ↑ Hills, Ann, ‘Holography Course for Artists’, Arts Alert/The Greater London Arts Association, 1980.
  5. ↑ Ellmann, Lucy, ‘Spotlights and Glass Plates (review)’, Time Out (London), 1981.
  6. ↑ Pollitt, Nigel, ‘Beam of Love’, City Limits, 1985.
  7. ↑ McManus, Irene, ‘The Holography Show’, The Guardian (London, 1 June 1983).
  8. ↑ Kelly, Liam, ‘Holograms at the Orchard Gallery, Derry’, The Irish Times (Dublin, 20 October 1982).
  9. ↑ Briers, David, ‘Duped by Their Art’, in Wenyon & Gamble: New Holograms/catalogue to the Exhibition (Swansea, Wales: Glynn Vivian Art Gallery & Museum, 1984).
  10. ↑ Galloway, David, ‘Wenyon & Gamble’, in Artware (Düsseldorf: ECON Verlag, 1987).
  11. ↑ Friese, Peter, ‘Die Täuschung Führt Sich Hinter’s Licht: Wenyon & Gamble’, in Künstlichkeit Und Wirklichkeit : E. Ausstellung D. VHS (KUNST IM PROJEKT) ... Vom 2. Bis 20. Dez. 1987 (Wuppertal: Volkshochschule, VHS (Kunst im Projekt), 1987), pp. 54-55.
  12. ↑ Mellor, David, ‘Romances of Decay, Elegies for the Future’, in British Photography: Towards a Bigger Picture, ed. by Charles Hagen and Nan Richardson (Aperture, 1988), pp. 52–67.
  13. ↑ Saxby, Graham, ‘Wenyon & Gamble, New Holograms’, British Journal of Photography, 1984.
  14. ↑ Titterington, Chris, ‘Where Art Meets Science’, New Scientist, 1988, 71.
  15. ↑ Gage, John, ‘Signs of Disharmony: Newton’s Opticks and the Artists’, Perspectives on Science, 16 (2008), 360-377 doi : 10.1162/posc.2008.16.4.360.
  16. ↑ Waterhouse, Michael, ‘The Beauty of Diagrams · Newton’s Prism’, The Beauty of Diagrams - Newton’s Prism (United Kingdom: BBC 4, 2010).
  17. ↑ Kemp, Martin (2000). The Oxford History of Western Art. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-860012-1.
  18. ↑ Popper, Frank, ‘Laser and Holographic Art’, in Art of the Electronic Age / by Frank Popper (London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 1993), pp. 45-47.
  19. ↑ Bianchi, Paolo, and David Galloway, ‘Wenyon & Gamble’, Kunstforum International (Germany), 1990, 200-2.
  20. ↑ Zec, Peter, ‘Gegenwärtige Tendenzen Der Kunstholographie’, in Holographie : Geschichte, Technik, Kunst (Köln: Dumont, 1987), pp. 164-167.
  21. ↑ Saxby, Graham, ‘Dimensional Ability’, British Journal of Photography, 1991.
  22. ↑ Bains, Sunny, ‘Wenyon & Gamble Go East’, Holographics International, 1990, 9.
  23. ↑ Kodera, Mitsuo, ‘Holography in Japan’, Leonardo, 25 (1992), 451-455.
  24. ↑ Courtney, Cathy, ‘Artists Books: Wenyon & Gamble’, Art Monthly, 1993, pp. 28-29.
  25. ↑ Gamble, Susan, and Michael Wenyon, ‘Volumes: Holograms of Books’, Leonardo, 28 (1995), 331-332.
  26. ↑ Asai, Toshihiro, ‘Bibliography’, in Critérium: Wenyon & Gamble-- : Wenyon & Gamble ; Catalog to the Exhibition at the Art Tower Mito, 1992 (Mito, Japan: Art Tower Mito ATM, 1992), pp. 2-3.
  27. ↑ Donald, Ann, ‘Shimmering Forms’, The List (Scotland), 1994, p. 64.
  28. ↑ Baker, Kenneth, ‘Manifold Sensations from Earth to Moon’, San Francisco Chronicle, 2000, p. 1b.
  29. ↑ Bryson, Norman, ‘Books, Too, Have Their Destinies: Wenyon & Gamble’s Bibliomancy’, in Bibliomancy : an Exhibition of Holograms (Boston, MA: The Boston Athenæum, 1998), pp. 10-16.
  30. ↑ Silver, Joanne, ‘Telescopes, the Final Frontier’, The Boston Herald, 2000, p. 8s.
  31. ↑ ‘Observing the Observers..., Greater Boston Arts’, Greater Boston Arts (Boston: WGBH, 2000).
  32. ↑ Bricker Balken, Debra, ‘Wenyon & Gamble’s "Space Waves", Photographs and Holograms from the Haystack Radio Observatory’, in Observing the Observers-- : Wenyon & Gamble ; Artists in Residence, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Haystack Observatory. (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Museum, 2000), pp. 9-16.
  33. ↑ Pearlman, Ellen. 'Analogue’s Last Gasp'. Hyperallergic. 2012-04-29. URL:http://hyperallergic.com/50339/micheal-wenyon-susan-gamble-magnanmetz-gallery/. Accessed: 2012-04-29. (Archived by WebCite® at https://www.webcitation.org/67IIRKaia%5B%5D)
  34. ↑ Heartney, Eleanor (1993). "Constructing Science, photographs by Wenyon & Gamble". New Scientist. 128 (1878). Retrieved June 25, 2016.
  35. ↑ Meier, Alison. “A Library Haunted by Hologram Books.” Hyperallergic, December 12, 2016. http://hyperallergic.com/344503/a-library-haunted-by-hologram-books/.
  36. ↑ Barilleaux, René Paul, New Directions in Holography, New American Film and Video Series, 59 (New York, NY, USA: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1991).
  37. ↑ Hagen, Charles, ‘Review/Art - The Case for Holograms - The Defense Resumes - Review - NYTimes.com’, The New York Times (New York, 29 November 1991), New York edition, section C, p. C24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.