early work

Yellow-Green, 1969

Field Band, 1969

all content © dennis reed

Single Band (Inverted), April 1970

Season Tracers, 1970

(January through December)

Light Dissipaters

Late in 1968, Dennis began to place fluorescent tubes in vacant fields where he powered them with gas generators and photographed them. Some tubes were white, while others were golden yellow or pink. This activity resulted in images that seemed strangely silent, as if all this took place in outer space. Actually, the enterprise was a noisy affair, as the gas generators drowned out all other sounds. Too often, the activity came to an end when the cops showed up because of the noise or because someone reported that Martians had landed.

Dennis says, “As a student, I was strongly influenced by the hardedge paintings of John McLaughlin, earthworks, Dan Flavin, and Robert Irwin. I was fortunate enough to spend a day with Irwin in his Venice studio. We did not know the term Light and Space at the time, but clearly that is what these light dissipaters were about.”

Season Tracers

The series concluded with Season Tracers in 1970. I placed a single white fluorescent tube in the same location in a field once a month for one year, thus recording the changing vegetation as the season unfolded. .