Amanda Means has spent much of her artistic career exploring the mysterious and inspiring nature of ordinary household objects — most noteworthy are the drinking glass and the light bulb. Specifically, the light bulb is an ordinary object and might be easily forgotten; however, Means penetrates the object with such vibrancy that we are enlivened in its presence. The light bulb truly becomes the symbol of “idea” or “inspiration” in her hands.
The Light Bulb is not a new subject for Means, she has spent much studio time creating black and white silver gelatin prints of a great variety of light bulbs. Means has also had the fortunate opportunity to explore the power of large format Polaroid film with the color light bulb as its focus.
Recently, due to the limited resource of large format color Polaroid film and her desire to revisit her beloved subject matter, the artist has chosen to work with a digital camera. Means uses many different color gels and numerous exposures to create these sensual, energy-filled glimmering globes. She describes feeling a visceral connection to the glowing light and sublime color emanating from these bulbs. Much like a painter, Means mixes many different color gels to create these wondrous hues. The light bulb is transformed from its mass-produced origins to an object of unique beauty and limitless potential.
Amanda Means is a graduate of Cornell University and SUNY Buffalo. She has exhibited widely in the US and abroad and is included in numerous collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; the MIT List Visual Arts Center; the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y.; the W.M. Hunt Collection Dancing Bear, NYC; the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston; and the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford, England. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017.
Ellen Miller Gallery is pleased to be representing Amanda Means’ newest body of work in collaboration with Howard Yezerski Gallery. The Light Bulb Series will be exhibited along side Thomas Jackson, Ion Zupcu, and Rachel Hellmann in March at the Art on Paper Fair in NYC (March 7 -10th).
