August Muth b. 1955

August Muth, as a former student of astronomy and physics, looks at his holograms as making perceptible light-space-time phenomena. He lives in Santa Fe and works in a network of connected studios filled with old and new technology needed to create his boundary-pushing holograms, from crafted light-sensitive emulsions to high-end lasers. Muth’s color field abstractions consist of geometric forms stretching beyond the bounds of the archival glass surface moving in space with the viewer. Viewers respond to the refracted light depending on their position in relation to the hologram. The hologram responds to the ambient and projected light in the exhibition space, creating a dynamic and ever-changing experience. Each person, unable to take up the same point in relation to the artwork as anyone else, is subject to their own unique experience of the piece at any given moment.

Muth exhibits internationally and is a pioneer in the exploration of light through the art of holography. His interest in light began at the age of 16 when he began making large water-filled glass prisms to refract light and explore prismatic color. In his late teens, as a jewelry maker in Aspen, Colorado, he became captivated by the alluring light of opals and diamonds. These interests laid the foundation for the beginning of his formal studies in art and physics at the University of New Mexico in 1975, and later at the University of Houston, and the University of Texas, Austin. He continued his formal studies specifically in holography at the Museum of Holography in New York City (1981–84). His studio, The Light Foundry, which was established in 1987 and is currently in Santa Fe, New Mexico, produces artworks exploring the light-space-time continuum.

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