Photo by Todd Johnson
Ultimate Joy is part of a body of work in which Jim Hodges has used illuminated (and sometimes animated) light bulbs in various configurations. Part of the artist’s ongoing exploration of light, color, and reflection, Ultimate Joy seduces viewers with sensory pleasure. In the work, two square panels hang on the diagonal, with two corners meeting at the center of the work. Each of the two panels contains twenty-five light sockets distributed at regular distances, forming a grid. The majority of the sockets - forty-one in all - are supplied with globular specialty lamps in slightly distinct shades of medium blue. At the center, where the panels meet, a proliferation of bulb types and colors are multiplied through dual socket extenders. Vibrantly hued “party” bulbs in red, yellow, and green; mirrored reflector lamps; and flickering candelabra bulbs all mingle together at odd angles, distinct from the grid of blue bulbs. The effect is an explosion of color and intensity.
Hodges has knowingly complicated the minimalist vocabulary inherited by his generation of artists. With Ultimate Joy, he has referenced the work of iconic artist Dan Flavin, but unlike Flavin’s lifelong insistence on denying anything in the work other than the physical properties of light in space, Hodges has encouraged multiple readings and poetic interpretations. Like his close friend, the late Félix González-Torres, Hodges has infused the minimalist aesthetic with new meanings as well as a kind of anthropomorphism. For example, curator Ron Platt has likened Ultimate Joy to revelers at a party; it may also suggest an intimate, fiery coupling of two individuals.
One of four works by Jim Hodges within the collection of the Linda Pace Foundation, Ultimate Joy is currently on view at the Linda Pace Foundation’s private exhibition space. For more information, email Linda Pace Foundation at info@pacefound.org.