Umlauf's sculptural practice is a mesmerizing exploration of light, material, and memory. She uses the unique properties of fluorescent Plexiglas to create works that are both visually captivating and emotionally resonant.

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Central to her work is the play of luminosity and transparency. Umlauf layers sheets of fluorescent Plexiglas, meticulously cutting and sanding the edges to produce a soft, glowing effect. These intricate layers create luminous, translucent veils that transform before your eyes. Within these flowing, sensual colors, you can find hints of the human form and sweeping landscape lines. Sometimes darkness prevails through the layers, creating a powerful push and pull of positive and negative space. This tension builds an intense sense of anticipation, compelling the viewer to search for a starting point or a new perspective.

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Umlauf's sculptures are deeply personal, weaving together her memories, rituals, and myths. She draws inspiration from moments like watching fluorescent fish swim with her twin sister. These vivid experiences become the foundation for her work, creating trails and traces of personal history that pulse with energy. The sculptures seem to glow and respond to their surroundings, evoking an ethereal quality that connects with viewers on multiple levels.

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One of the most distinctive features of her practice is her masterful use of light. By intricately cutting and sanding the edges of the Plexiglas, she allows light to emanate in a metaphysical fashion, creating a continuous depth that draws the eye into the piece. In some works, wires are entangled or serve as leading lines, acting as drawings on the sculpted shapes and adding a sense of movement and dynamism.

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While Umlauf’s work shares a sensibility with minimalist sculptor Richard Tuttle, she carves her own unique path. Tuttle described his sculptures as "drawings of three-dimensional structures in space," and Umlauf shares this delicate approach to line and form. However, where Tuttle’s work creates structures in space, Umlauf's sculptures integrate space with shapes. She actively disrupts lines and creates a sense of unraveling, blurring the boundaries between object and environment.

Umlauf's artistic practice navigates the possibilities and limitations of material and form, resulting in sculptures that are visually compelling and intellectually rich. Her use of fluorescent Plexiglas and wirework draws on the legacy of minimalism, while her focus on light and materiality situates her work within the broader context of postmodernism. Through this unique synthesis, she creates something entirely her own, inviting us to reconsider how contemporary art can engage with both the physical world and our personal experiences.

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“To make something which is unraveling, its own justification is something like a dream. There is no paradox, for that is only a separation from reality. We have no mind, only its dream of being, a dream of substance when there is one”. *

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Lynn Umlauf was born in 1942 in Austin, Texas, into a family of artists. She moved to New York in 1961 to attend the Art Students League. Her first New York solo show was at the Hal Bromm Gallery in 1978, and her first museum exhibition was at the Whitney Biennial, 1975. Umlauf's recent solo exhibitions include "Works (1974 – 1981)", Zürcher Gallery, New York and  "New Sculpture and Paintings",  Spazio E_EMME, Cagliari, Italy.

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*Richard Tuttle « Work is Justification for the Excuse”, in Documenta 5 (Kassel, Germany, 1972), section 17, page 77.