Starting his career in commercial lighting design, Bruce Munro (b.1959) later returned to his artistic roots to create large immersive site-specific light installations born from his fertile imagination.
Exploring Munros fascinating career to date, text and images combine to present an artist whose work is an exploration of place, topography and the environments in which the works are set. From the Australian desert to Californian vineyards, through to museums and manor houses in his native England, Munros spellbinding installations are immersive experiences that engage with the senses, their apparent simplicity belying the thematic and technological complexity behind their conception and realisation.
Continually probing the possibilities of light and the considerable emotional pull the medium can create, Munros enthusiasm for his materials and their relationship with audiences and environments is intelligently and engagingly communicated here.
Richly balanced with beautiful reproductions of Munros spectacular work, Light Field is essential reading for anyone interested in the power of light as an artform.
Fiona Gruber an arts journalist, essayist, broadcaster and radio documentary maker. She has written on the arts for major Australian and UK newspapers and art journals including the Australian, Art World Australia, The Guardian and the Times Literary Supplement. Her work for the Australian Broadcasting Corporations Radio National includes a ten part series, Australian Portraits.
Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1 The birth of the Field of Light; 2 Developing Art Practice; 3 Long Knoll, Wiltshire; 4 Ideas and Inspirations; 5 New Directions and Works in Progress; Chronology; Bibliography; Index
Given that light is his medium, it is perhaps fitting that an abiding quality of Bruce Munro’s work is its ‘lightness’. It is not always easy for artists to remain playful and experimental, as their work grows in ambition and scale. Among the many things to admire Bruce and his work for is that he has managed to do so. – Alexander Sturgis
Colour exists only in our minds; Bruce’s genius lies in his secret knowledge of the spiritual energy of photons. His work doesn’t just light up the world, it illuminates our souls. – Kevin McCloud, Designer, writer and presenter of Channel 4s Grand Designs