I use light to illuminate our shared humanity. I believe the highest achievement for an artist is the transformation of physical materials into light, be it graphite or charcoal on paper, paint on canvas or the projection of images through film onto or through a surface. For me, this transformation of materials is a deeply spiritual experience because it suggests that both singularly and collectively, we are made of the same materials as stars. This idea is central to my work. I create art by funneling the world through my psyche in peculiar ways. The secret for me is to remain open to exploration, allowing the soul of a place to reveal its magic.

Standing in my studio in the middle of the night, I remember the dusty afternoon light falling across a carnival ride in western Massachusetts. Sifting shapes through my mind and memory, I push homely images towards the iconic: the carnival ride takes on the majesty of a Biblical passage or a Mayan temple. Light is the only presence in art that time cannot erode. It is the constant in my work. It enables me to forge connections between the present and the past. How is Rembrandt’s light different from my own? The work of the Old Masters has inspired me since childhood and the nocturnes of Turner, Whistler and Hopper continue to light a path for me.

My drawings, paintings, prints and videos are documents. They evidence my perplexing feelings about the time we live in. Growing up in the United States in the twentieth century, I have spent my life observing an empire in decline. Creating scenes of vernacular architecture, carnival and the empty spaces along the American highways in light and shadow, I ask my work to whisper across time and space – this is how it felt to be here!

– Adell Donaghue