Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 238

art mwnw'Light and Space 9 at the Whitney These wall projects appear to warp flat surfaces protrude from the wall even pierce it or hollow it out and otherwise change our notions of the physical space and perspective The difference between Turrell and the op is that Turrell works only with light itself not paint or other materials Chronologically these are followed by "Space Division 1968-1969 In the words of Melina Wortz who wrote the introduction to the exhibition catalog the constructions set up "the illusion of a visual screen through which we see into a space whose boundaries of walls and floors appear to have Turrell accomplishes this by concealing the light source diffusing it throughout the environment and by eliminating the Bharp edges usually found between the plane of the floor and walls or the walls and ceiling Those edges are rounded and therefore do not create a sharp difference in plane as they are struck by light Pale blues and whites lend a soft even mysterious aura to these environments And strange vibrations form at the edges of some of light mixtures Some appear to vibrate much as the edges of a Rothko painting while in others Turrell creates a shimmer not unlike the glow emanating from some of canvases One has to admire the skill if it is a bit theatrical with which Turrell manipulates the light and therefore the space The "Ganzfeld are the third and most recent constructions One greets you as the elevator door opens It is a large wall-sized piece By Malcolm Preston Although the Whitney Museum' of American Art has devoted a good deal of its exhibition program during this its 50th Anniversary Year to such traditional topics as "Figurative and "American Folk and such accepted artists as Edward Hopper and Marsden Hartley it continues to be interested in new directions and innovative experiments One such venture iB the current "Light and show an exhibition of the work of James Turrell a young Californian work combines the concerns for light and color sensation with the notion that art should not be illustrative illusionistic or narrative and that the elements of which art is created can exist as entities on their own without any relationship to an object or reality Organized by Barbara Haskell the Whitney's curator the Turrell show is the artist's first comprehensive exhibit in the New York area It consists of six environments covering the period from 1966 to the present The earliest things on view are called "Projection In them bright high intensity light throws an image on the opposite wall of a darkened room The beam which passes through a specially cut and shaped aperture creates a form or form silhouette in white which in some instances reverses or at least upsets the usual cues by which we Eive forms in space It is an il-aary game Turrell plays rather like the op artists of a generation ago of gray toned material with a somewhat mirror-like surface that reflects the geometry of the gallery in which it is mounted The room itself is lit with what is called a "homogeneous As you approach the surface of the large gray plastic material a peculiar dizzying sensation takes hold one is all but enveloped by both the light and the And one wonders what is re-m what is reality? The Whitney is located at Madison Avenue and 75th Street and is open on Tuesdays from 11 AM to 8 PM Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 AM to 6 PM and on Sundays from noon until 6 PM It is closed on Mondays The Turrell exhibit runs through Jan 1 Ch 21 is alive and heading for solvency station in Syracuse where he was vice president for broadcast operations "It was very comprehensive including capital and programing needs By the summer of 1980 we had achieved all our programing He is now going to develop a similar plan for WL1W he said: "I want to chart a course to avoid financial fund-raising and membership drives have been going very well Gillick said The star tion raised more than $61000 in the first nine days of its 10-day holiday campaign which ended last night The initial campaign goal was $45000 revised to $60000 when the initial responses came in he said When Gillick arrived the station had 4500 members triple the number of a year ago He said he hoped to have more than 6000 members by the end of the campaign The fund drive has also begun getting support from previously untapped corporate sources he said including challenge grants from Gould Simulation Systems Eaton Corp and the Roslyn Savings Bank troubles surfaced after the station finished its new studio and transmitter in Plain-view In the fell of 1979 many of its trustees resigned during a dispute with station manager Charles Bell over programing and fund-raising The board was reorganized with advice from the State Education Department job was eliminated and his contract was not renewed Wicklein dean of Boston communications school was hired in February and left in May By Peter Goodman WLIWCh 21 Long public television station is back on its feet financially and ready for some long-term planning according to Arthur Gillick the new president and general manager Short-term fund raising and membership drives are doing very well Gillick said and the station should be able to pay off the last of its $257000 deficit by March three months ahead of schedule Gillick 32 the second manager this year assumed his $45000-a-year post in October Last May general manager John Wicklein resigned after announcing discovery of the deficit and recommending severe program and staff cutbacks "The station is not in the situation of last Gillick said during a recent interview "Before my arrival Wicklein program director Robert Civiello and the board of trustees did the appropriate assessment and acted responsibly in reducing costs even though they unfortunately had to let go some staff and developed a budget for this fiscal year By the conclusion of the fiscal year we should break even financially "At this point that responsible action has paid he said "I walked into a very viable station no skeletons in the closet I overemphasize what the staff has done over the last six Gillick was involved in formulating a 5-year development plan at WCNY-TVFM the public.