Diana Shpungin, From Darkness To Light, 2021
Custom printed heat sensitive pencils
distributed as a gift to visitors to the exhibition
Edition of 500 for The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
Diana Shpungin’s From Darkness To Light consists of a minimalist display of penc ils which museum visitors are encouraged to receive as a gift in the spirit of American, Cuban-born artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres’s works of generosity. The black pencils are printed with the title of the work in silver ink. However, upon being held by the viewer the heat sensitive coating turns from dark to light as an optimistic, and both poetic and literal gesture in the face of challenging times. Shpungin intened to give the visitors a tool to leave their own marks, exercising both their creative and political freedom.