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Mystifying Light Drawings of New York in the 1970s


While artist Eric Staller's light drawings are beautiful in and of themselves, take into account that they were created in New York back in the 1970s using just a Nikon 35mm film camera, 4th of July sparklers and Christmas lights and you can't help but be blown away. By day, Staller would walk around New York, studying the locations he felt would “articulate the particular choreography or architecture of light” that he wanted to express. At night, he would carefully position his camera on a tripod and, with the lens open for several minutes, he would purposefully move about urban spaces; outlining cars, streets and stairways and even forming magical-looking tunnels brought to life through his imagination.

Light Drawings, 1976-1980 were exhibited worldwide and received a lot of attention from art galleries and publications. As he tells us, “Even the most technical people in the photography world were mystified about how these photos were made.”









Eric Staller's website

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