Seven Lights Series 1975

Curator: Immediately, I’m struck by the warmth emanating from this composition—it feels like a sunrise seen through a gentle fog. Editor: That’s an interesting initial read. What you’re experiencing now is Leon Berkowitz’s, *Seven Lights Series* created in 1975. As you see, this composition is composed of seven distinct monochrome panels rendered in acrylic, characteristic of the Colour Field movement. Curator: So each panel shifts slightly, but deliberately. I notice that transition—the subtle progression from radiant yellow at the bottom to cool, ethereal blues above in the upper registers... it evokes a certain tranquility, and also the shifting nature of light and time. There are even symbolic connections to chakras—the fire and solar plexus meeting the throat and third eye. Editor: I agree, that gradient creates a deeply emotive visual journey. Considering Berkowitz's deep involvement with the Washington Color School, these vertical registers reject the formal constraints of late modernism to cultivate personal expression. And in what ways do you consider identity is inscribed into his work? Curator: The seriality interests me—is he exploring queer subjectivity through it? Each panel being similar yet distinctly different? There's repetition, but in this framework the queer experience complicates heteronormative perception, disrupting standard ways of knowing and presenting one's self. Editor: It is interesting how you explore themes around Queer Identity, while Berkowitz publicly self-identified as a white male artist; there were likely some gendered dimensions given the art world environment during his lifetime. Even so, these panels remind us of the diversity in color experiences despite them starting out looking alike... Curator: Agreed, so it opens avenues into discourse and discussion instead of prescribing particular readings of each symbol. So what he truly hoped for, then, were feelings. Editor: Indeed!