Dorothea Rockburne: The Light Shines in the Darkness and the Darkness Has Not Understood

Bernheim presents the first European survey exhibition of Dorothea Rockburne, curated by Lola Kramer, on view at the gallery’s London location.

This historical exhibition comprises over two dozen artworks dating from 1967 to 2013, most of which will be on display in Europe for the first time. The Light Shines in the Darkness and the Darkness Has Not Understood It traces the evolution of Rockburne’s momentous and groundbreaking practice in New York from her seminal early experiments with wrinkle-finish paint to her rigorously folded works in vellum and linen to luxuriant geometric paintings exploring spatial dynamics and topology. By reconstituting many of her most iconic works and significant series in a chronological narrative, the exhibition will allow visitors to understand Rockburne’s remarkably diverse output as a multifaceted whole and the pivotal figure she has been for nearly seven decades.

The exhibition takes its title from the Latin phrase “Lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt,” one which appears in John:5 and which Rockburne has referenced in various ways throughout the late 80s.