British-born New York based artist (born 1946)
Anthony McCall (born 1946) is a British-born New York based artist known for his ‘solid-light’ installations, a series that he began in 1973 with "Line Describing a Cone," in which a volumetric form composed of projected light slowly evolves in three-dimensional space.
Occupying a space between cinema, sculpture, and drawing, his work's historical importance has been recognised in such exhibitions as "Into the Light: the Projected Image in American Art 1964–77,” Whitney Museum of American Art (2001–02); "The Expanded Screen: Actions and Installations of the Sixties and Seventies,” Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna (2003–04); "The Expanded Eye," Kunsthaus Zurich (2006); "Beyond Cinema: the Art of Projection,” Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2006–07); "The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality and the Projected Image,” Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC (2008); and "On Line: Drawing Through the Twentieth Century,” Museum of Modern Art (2010–11).
Career.
Early life and 1970s career.
McCall studied graphic design and photography at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, Bromley, Kent, England from 1964 to 1968.
McCall was a key figure in the avant-garde London Film-makers Co-operative in the 1970s. His earliest films are documents of outdoor performances that were notable for their minimal use of the elements, most notably fire. McCall's first piece was called "Landscape for Fire".
After moving to New York in 1973, McCall continued his fire performances and developed his 'solid light' film series, beginning with Line Describing a Cone, in 1973. Based on simple, animated line-drawings, these projections strikingly emphasise the sculptural qualities of a beam of light. In darkened, haze-filled rooms, the projections create an illusion of three-dimensional shapes, ellipses, waves and flat planes that gradually expand, contract or sweep through space. In these works, the artist sought to deconstruct cinema by reducing film to its principle components of time and light and removing the screen entirely as the prescribed surface for projection. The works also shift the relationship of the audience to film, as viewers become participants, their bodies intersecting and modifying the transitory forms.
At the end of the 1970s, McCall withdrew from making art. When he took his "Line Describing a Cone" installation to Konsthallen in Lund, Sweden, the artwork was rendered invisible. Very much unlike the New York lofts where dust and cigarette smoke created a haze, Swedish clean air shocked him severely, casting him into a "wilderness" that would last two decades. His showing at documenta 6 in 1977 would be his last for over 25 years.
Resurgence in the 2000s.
Some twenty years later, McCall's works started to appear at such institutions as Centre Pompidou, Whitney Museum and Tate Modern. This brought his attention and he acquired a new dynamic and re-opened his 'solid light' series, this time using digital animation and digital projection rather than 16mm film.[1] The first of the new works, "Doubling Back" (2003) was exhibited at the 2004 Whitney Biennial. McCall developed the use of a slow-moving cinematic ‘wipe’ to combine and separate two opposing forms within one volumetric object; the new works also explored the extended cyclical ‘installation’ structure that he had first developed in the film-based work of the seventies. New installations included "You and I, Horizontal" (2006), "Leaving, with Two-Minute Silence" (2009), and "Face to Face" (2013). 
McCall also developed a parallel series of vertically oriented works, starting with "Breath" (2004) in which a projector mounted on the ceiling projects directly downwards onto the floor, creating a ten-metre-tall, tent-like, almost architectural enclosure with a 4-metre wide base. Other vertical works included "Between You and I" (2006), "Meeting You Halfway" (2009), and "Coupling" (2009).
The first survey exhibition of McCall's work in an international institution took place at the Serpentine Gallery London, in 2007-8. This included early performance films, horizontal solid light works, and works on paper. The vertical works were first exhibited as a solo show ("Breath: The Vertical Works”) at Hangar Bicocca, Milan in 2009. The horizontal and vertical works were combined in a solo show at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin ("Five Minutes of Pure Sculpture") in 2012.
McCall has recently embarked on a new series, which use slanting beams, projected from ceiling-to-floor at a 45-degree angle. Originating from two widely separated projectors mounted on the ceiling, the beams converge at the floor, creating a single, superimposed ‘footprint’. Works include "Coming About" (2016) and the four-projector installation, "Crossing" (2016).
Personal life.
McCall had a relationship with performance artist Carolee Schneemann in the 1970s. They met in London and McCall followed her when she moved back to New York.
References.
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